The quarrel between Hritikh Roshan and Kangana Ranaut has been a long drawn out, very public battle, and very unseemly one. While a lot of people have had a salacious interest in the alleged affair-gone-wrong, most of us have had altogether too much of the washing of dirty linen in public. And now it seems we are to see the next chapter in the saga played out in full public view.
Ranaut stars in the film Mental Hai Kya (also starring Rajkummar Rao, Amyra Dastur, Amrita Puri, Jimmy Sheirgill & Shah Rukh Khan) while Roshan stars in the biographical film Super 30 (based on the life of mathematician Anand Kumar and his educational program Super 30). Both films were slated for release on 26 July 2019.
In recent times we have seen a newly belligerent Kangana Ranaut express her hostility towards various people in the Indian film industry, in cases ably assisted by her sister Rangoli Chandel. In this case as well, Chandel has launched a broadside against Roshan; calling him ‘Pappu’ alleging ‘underhand attacks’ and threatening retribution.
He wanted to avoid a ‘media circus’ so he decided to shift the release date of his film. He also said that he wanted to ‘save myself from the personal trauma and toxic mental violence this would cause’.
Balaji Motion Pictures issued a statement that the movie release date change was a joint decision made after consulting trade analysts.
As the producer of the film under the Balaji banner, the ‘Content Czarina’ issued a clarification in characteristic style.
Chandel fired off yet another tweet which claimed to be Ranuat's response to the whole issue and referenced Roshan’s statement by calling it a ‘sob story’. The statement applauded producer Kapoor for ‘making her way in this male-dominated industry’.
One Twitter user pointed out – quite correctly – that a fairly humdrum issue about film release dates has been turned into a personality clash; harking back to the public spat that by now should have been dead and buried.
There have been many who cheered on Ranaut and Chandel. However a lot of the tweeple also felt that Chandel has been quite needlessly combative and offensive in the way she has addressed and worded her tweets.
The general tenor of tweets was that there is really no need to become bellicose in a situation like this. Ranaut is a supremely talented actor and well able to make her work speak for itself.
It is also worth pointing out that painting Ekta Kapoor as ‘brave’ in a supposedly hostile male-dominated world is a little misplaced; considering that she is one of the most powerful people in the Hindi film industry and in Indian TV. Kapoor is very much an industry insider; being the daughter of Jeetendra; one of Bollywood’s evergreen heroes. As such she is the product of the nepotistic structure of the industry that Ranaut claims to abhor.
To be fair there was quite the aspect of the wounded innocent in statement Roshan issued; his statement seems crafted to gain sympathy. While one side wants to be seen as taking the high road, the other side has been unseemly and attacking. No one comes out smelling of roses. That said, I am looking forward to both movies – Mental Hai Kya and Super 30 – which promise to be interesting, non-formulaic films helmed by tremendously talented actors.
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