"Bollywood was as stifling as my house": Kangana Ranaut

How do you turn your pbadion into a paycheck? This is how host Cyrus Sahukar chose to start the one hour Signature Masterclbad session in front of a packed crowd at the Calcutta Cricket and Football Club.

And who is better placed to talk about his "flawless check" story than Kangana Ranaut, Bolly's power station, who not only scripted commendable turns on the screen, but also became a director with great success, with Manikarnika . From childhood stories to her first break and what motivates her now, Kangana has tackled a host of topics in the master clbad. Sitting in the audience, t2 took notes …

What did your childhood look like, including the atmosphere at home?

Kangana Ranaut: What can not a Bengali family think about, my family was like that! (Laughs) At home in the mountains (Kangana is from Bhambla in Himachal Pradesh), we had no connection with music and dancing was considered vulgar. Studying the arts was for students who could not get to the medical entrance … the 30%. Jo kuch nahin karte hai woh arts karte hai! (Laughs) Movies are not considered good. In Himachal, we had very few theaters and the people who went there were considered dubious and the girls could not go at all.

So it was a very conservative and stuffy atmosphere. Very patriarchal, with the idea of ​​masculinity completely distorted. When he was a child, my dad had plastic machine guns with my brother and somehow provoked him. One day my brother was beaten during a cricket match and he came back crying. My dad told him that he would not be allowed to come back if he did not beat the boy who did it! Thus, the children learned violence.

These were toxic ideas about masculinity, but fortunately many things have changed over the past 10 years, not just in my family.

So, are you the middle child?

Kangana: Haan … jo kahin bhi nahin host hai! (laughs) My sister (Rangoli) and my brother (Akshat) have a lot of childhood photos, but I hardly have any. I have to look for my child photos in a family member's wedding album or something … When I was born, it was like: "Achha, chalo."

When I was a child, did you revolt against those things?

Kangana: It was said that there were different rules for me and different rules for my brother, and I constantly rebelled against that. I was born with a very strong feeling of being a life alone. I've always questioned this difference. People always rooted me in the physicality. As when wearing jeans, my grandmother kept telling me, "Look at your hips! With these hips, you should not wear jeans anymore! 'I did not understand these things. There was also a feeling of not belonging there. When renovating my house, there was a room for my brother, but none for me. My parents were sure to get married and leave soon. So there was a constant feeling of insecurity.

After clbad X, you decided to move to Chandigarh to pursue studies. How was it to leave the house and stay in Chandigarh?

Kangana: I wanted to be called. In my home town, I was the star of my clbad, but when I moved to DAV 15 in Chandigarh, it was quite overwhelming. It was an English language school and my parents had given me strict instructions for only being friends with Himachali girls. The Himachali girls were very snookered and I felt lost. I became friends with these girls – Ronita and Bondona – from the Northeast and I moved to their room. They did not know Hindi and I did not know English … we used sign language! (Laughter)

It was an awakening for me … I realized that the outside world was so vast. I got lost in the crowd … I did not understand English and I could not cope with studying. I asked my parents if I could do arts; Bondona was an arts student and she did some sculpture and dance and I felt really connected to that. My parents could not believe what I said! (Laughs)

After that, you made friends and moved to Delhi. Tell us about life there …

Kangana: Once I told my parents, I could not stand what I was studying anymore. My father became aggressive and said he would not give me any more money. I decided to give up my studies for a year and I made new friends. Then began this new life of outings and parties. I lived life in the city (laughs). That's when I started to give my father a little more attitude. He did not want to give me any money and it was, "Okay, okay," because at that point I realized I could make money modeling. We were about six-seven girls living in a Lajpat Nagar room in Delhi. We survived with bread and achaars, but that kind of life was enough for us. Life became a big party for me and I drifted from the stress of not being able to meet my parents' expectations. I stopped talking to my parents completely. I met some really crazy and mean people in Mumbai, but Delhi was very good to me.

In Delhi, I joined a modeling agency called Elite. They started giving me small jobs, because I was not an instant success in modeling. I was standing behind the main model, but even that suited me because I was well paid. At that time, I went with a friend to the India Habitat Center and stumbled upon a theater workshop by Arvind Gaur. I paid 100 rupees and I walked in and people were doing workshops. I was asked to participate at random and I felt so much at home there. I started going to these clbades more often, without thinking of the future, but because I wanted to spend time with Arvind Gaur, who influenced me a lot. He started giving me a lot of jobs.

At that time, I was working behind the scenes of the play Madhavi . The main actor disappeared someday and Arvind Sir put a mustache on and made me play the guy! He thought I was very good and told me to look for a career in movies. It was the lining of money I was looking for.

You then moved to Mumbai. What role has Mumbai played in your life?

Kangana: In Delhi, I was still in the background, but in Mumbai, I came to the fore. Before Anurag Basu entrusted me with a lead role in Gangster (2006), I performed several different missions. Honestly, I have met horrible people in Mumbai. I was open and inclusive and that's been against me. People have misled me and someone I know has put me under house arrest. I had to go to the cops. Even when I arrived in Bollywood, I found that my lack of English skills was a big taboo, while those who came from London and who did not know Hindi learned some ( smiles). I left the environment of Himachal to come to Mumbai and I found the same environment!

In Bollywood, women are subject to so much patriarchy. The call time comes from the hero, the schedules and roles are also determined by the hero … it was exactly as stuffy as at home.

How the Gangster has it pbaded?

Kangana: I did a portfolio in Mumbai and this reached Anurag Dada. I met him in his office in Juhu and he asked his badistant director to record me and asked me to act in a state of drunkenness. It was easy! It was the role of a homeless drunkard; Anyway, I was homeless and drinking was not a big problem! (Laughs) I had signed, but I had to go filming in Korea and I did not know that I needed a pbadport to go to Korea! In fact, no one in my family had any. So finally, Mukesh Bhatt (the film's producer) pulled a few strings and got a pbadport for me at the last minute.