By Jagmohan Singh Barhok

“The Tigress in the Tinsel Town” would seem to be the most befitting description of the fireball called Kangana Ranaut. The girl with the killing instinct may well be the second best description of the moment the talker tries to tread on her corns. An oblique reference to anything sensitive or to any if at all of the things called skeletons in one’s cupboards, is enough to ignite her emotional or temperamental fuse. Within seconds she is all aflame, enveloping everything or everyone around in the fiery sweep. She is like a haystack which needs only a matchstick to set it ablaze.

Indeed Kangana is gifted with most of the qualities that go to make a woman lovely to behold. She has that powerful looks ( and or instinct) & is a capable of drawing crowds with her charismatic charms and histrionics. She is a zooming actress who is deeply entrenched in acting, as is evident from her four Filmfare & four National Award, she has been bestowed with in a short career to the envy & chagrin of many.

Born in Bhambla, a small town in Himachal Pradesh, Ranaut’s parents wanted her to become a doctor but the actress wanted to do something unusual. Tenacious, as she had been since childhood, she left her home town & moved to Chandigarh where she studied and later moved to New Delhi. Unmindful of her future, the teenager was spotted by a modelling agency. She did few modelling assignments before switching over to acting. She underwent training at the Asmita Theatre Group & learnt the finer elements of acting under the guidance of director Arvind Gaur & eventually moved to Mumbai for pastures new.

Noted producer-director Mahesh Bhatt was impressed by her looks .He cast her in his forthcoming film “Gangster”( 2006 ) directed by Anurag Basu featuring Imran Hashmi, Shiney Ahuja & Gulshan Grover. As was expected , the film begins with a lengthy kissing scene between Imran Hashmi & Kangana who actually is a girlfriend of a gangster named Daya, while Imran plays a police detective in disguise following the two. The film revolves round ‘hide & seek’ between the police and a group of gangsters headed by Khan Bhai ( Gulshan Grover). Kangana plays the female lead as gangster Shiney Ahuja’s girlfriend .The circumstances force her to flee to Seoul, the capital of South Korea with Daya.

The films has many interesting & worth mentioning scenes, especially the one when Kangana fully drunk, clad in a grey top, seeks lift from the passing vehicles almost in an unconscious state on a busy road and reaches Imran’s house bare footed. And another when Daya after deceiving the chasing policemen takes shelter in her house. Simran is busy doing household chores. Her face is smeared with water droplets ,captured beautifully by the cinematographer. Although the film did not carry big names, it was well received by the audiences and the critics.

Kangana Ranaut won her first Filmfare Best Actress Award on debut. There was no looking back for the starlet as she raced to name and fame with her steller nay impassioned performance in “Woh lamhe’ ( 2006),” Life in a Metro” ( 2007) followed by “Fashion” (2008). “Raaz: The Mystery Continues” ( 2009) directed by Mohit Suri & produced by Mahesh Bhatt again repeated Kangana opposite Imran Hashmi. The actress played a comic role in “Tanu Weds Manu” (2011). The unusual title enhanced the prospects of the film’s success as it reached most households, more especially liked by girls & women. The film evoked mixed response. She also played a few glamorous roles but that gimmick did not seem to work. However, her next film ” Krrish” a science fiction drama, was a box office bonanza featuring Hrithik Roshan, Vivek Oberoi, priyanka Chopra & of course Kangana Ranaut. It was a box office bonanza collecting about 400 crore against a budgeted cost of 90 crores. Her next two films ” Queen” ( 2014) & ” Tanu Weds Manu: Returns” ( 2015) catapulted her to the dizzy heights of phenomenal success. She was bestowed with National Award for both these films. Her furiously dashing role in “Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi”( 2019) added another feather in her cap bringing her in the topmost league. Kangana plays Jayalalitha , the reigning Queen of Tamil films and the former CM in “Thalaivi”, directed by Vijay .The actress was bestowed with the National Award for her performance in “Manikarnika” & “Panga” respectively making the awards tally to 4 with 5 Filmfare Awards including Padma Shri.

Kangana has had a perpetual association with controversies. Be it with her friendship, albeit short, with Shekhar Suman’s son or with other stars, more especially Karan Johar who had once insulted rather maligned her by calling as a ‘pipsqueak’. The actress later bounced back to even the score calling herself as ‘peerless’. She openly blasted Hrithik Roshan and some prominent film stars following the death of ‘SSR’ calling them misandrist & a symbol of Nepotism . After the SSR episode when her office in Mumbai was demolished & she was threatened, the actress held her nerves and did things lawfully. She also did not allow anyone to make her crawl or dance to his or her tunes proving that ‘the obvious needs no evidence’.

Although some of her films failed to do well in the recent past, the actress continues to be in the news for reasons this or that. Likely to contest Lok Sabha Election from Himachal Pradesh on BJP ticket.