For weeks and months now, both Kangana and her sister-manager Rangoli have been feeling that they have been patronised by the Film Industry insiders, many of whom are second or third generation of Hindi film families.
The best example is Shekhar Suman's son Adhyayan, who really messed up Kangana when he was dating her in 2009. Adhyayan subsequently joined the list of Bollywood celebs backing Hrithik Roshan in his legal battle against Kangana.
Today Kangana, is a huge style icon and considered one of the best dressed women in the industry. However, in her extraordinary journey from small town to Bollywood A-lister, she had to face many seemingly insurmountable odds.
Her English pronunciation and fashion sense was constantly ridiculed. Some industry observers think it was because of her background that women like Shweta Bachchan and Gauri Khan, who aspire to be style icons themselves, totally shun her.
Like many from Narendra Modi’s ‘New India’ small-town success stories, Kangana has turned the tables on those who believed that “outsiders” do not last in Bollywood. However, in this hour of triumph, Kangana and Rangoli seem getting carried away a bit too far. Their attack and brazenness in attacking media is counter-productive and amounts to shooting the messenger.
This was not the first time that Kangana had been politically incorrect or giving a jolt to her die-hard supporters who have stood by her. On April 29, 2019, the actress had needlessly taken a jibe at the Indian National Congress, saying that India is truly independent today; free from the rule of 'Italian government'. “I feel India is gaining its independence in the real sense of the term today. Because before this, we were servants of Mughal, British and Italian governments. So please exercise your right and vote," Kangana said, indicating that she badly needed basic lessons in history and political science.
Somehow the actress and her vocal sister-manager are convinced that media per se has been siding with Kapoor, Khan, Roshan, Johar and Bachchan clans despite her phenomenal success and talent. Nothing can be more erroneous and fallacious than this. Throughout Hritik Roshan episode till date, both electronic and print media have been giving splash to each word spoken by her and Rangoli.
Surely, if Kangana’s biggest problem is to find acceptance from Bollywood iconic families, especially the Roshans, then she should realise that keeping distance and maintaining her position would have worked better. As Priyanka Chopra has shown in some cases, ‘I do not care’ attitude really works effectively. The more a person hankers after acceptance the less acceptance s/he gets.
Kangana and Rangoli’s active interest in supporting Sunaina Roshan (sister of Hrithik Roshan and daughter of Rakesh Roshan) looks like an attempt to get back at the Roshans.
Kangana and Rangoli need to introspect that if they wish to carry out a ‘titanic battle’ against Bollywood biggies, they would need media to tell their side of story. Mumbai Press Club, Entertainment Journalists Guild and many other institutions are getting restless to boycott Kangana. She needs to engage the media and avoid facing ostractisation. Media boycott can be gloomy prospect for any artiste, let alone one as ambitious as Kangana.
(Rasheed Kidwai is author of 'Neta Abhineta — Bollywood Star Power in Politics'. Views expressed are personal.)
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