Kangana Ranaut is many things – a supremely talented actor, a strong, self-willed professional in an industry hostile to outsiders, a feminist and more. However, in recent times, she has created a veritable cottage industry around a newly belligerent persona and the attacking statements she has made about people from the Hindi film industry. This is now like her second job and it is all rather puzzling.
For a while now, she has trained her sights on Alia Bhatt, the Bollywood darling who is blessed with an impeccable pedigree, classic good looks and a surprising talent as well. In the past, Ranaut has called Bhatt ‘Karan Johar’s puppet’, asked her to ‘grow a spine’ and rated Bhatt’s performance in Gully Boy as ‘mediocre’. She has also slammed Bhatt’s co-star Ranbir Kapoor for being ‘apolitical’.
Ranaut’s sister Rangoli Chandel has also joined in the attack; calling Bhatt and her mother, Soni Razdan ‘non-Indian’ for their British citizenship. It is interesting that the sisters did not think it necessary to criticise other film personalities such as Akshay Kumar (who gave up his Indian citizenship and now has a Canadian passport) for similar transgressions.
Razdan tweeted a reply which appears to have been deleted now; where she called out Ranaut for repeatedly targeting the family of the man (husband Mahesh Bhatt) who had given her her first break and wondered what Ranaut’s ‘agenda’ was.
Responding to Ranaut’s ‘mediocre’ comment, Bhatt said that she respects Ranaut's opinion and work, recalled her praise for her work in Raazi and said she would like to focus on her work. “I will be quiet, that's my stand," has been her official position. She also reportedly said “Maybe she will appreciate me again if I work hard enough.” Responding to the ‘apolitical’ charge, Bhatt said that while she didn’t have the ability to speak as candidly as Kangana, she still respected her. She also conceded that Kangana is perhaps right; that “sometimes we do hold back.”
Bhatt has shown restraint and maturity in the way she has responded to some fairly severe provocation. She almost certainly has a media consultant to guide her in the way she responds on social media as well as in interview settings. However, she still deserves credit for the graciousness and self-awareness of her responses. People in Bollywood are known to be utterly pusillanimous when it comes to taking a stand against the powers that be. Producers, filmmakers and actors; anyone with a stake in the box office outcomes of a movie, are seen to cravenly give in to political intimidation and/or pressure from other sources. Perhaps Bhatt’s statement is an acknowledgement of this consistent lack of moral courage that Bollywood big-wigs routinely demonstrate.
Perhaps Bhatt was just being prudent and steering clear of what would undoubtedly have become an ugly and long-drawn out public spat. Whatever the motivations that guided her statements, she is seen to have taken the high road in this case and has even come across as unruffled and gracious. Ranaut and her sister, on the other hand, have come across as needlessly combative, fractious and peevish. This round seems to go to Bhatt.
For how long though? Given that Kangana Ranaut seems to enjoy being combative and looking at the support she receives from the troll armies, it is perhaps just a matter of time before she fires her next salvo at Alia Bhatt… or some other hapless soul that Ranaut’s worldview sees as a miscreant.
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