Kangana Ranaut Archives

Special Article: Needless Debate On Nepotism & Talent

By Apoorva Raturi

Nepotism has been an ongoing topic of discussion for many this year. The term used to describe the mind-set of a few who believe that they are privileged and that they deserve certain perks because of the family they are born in, was used by Kangana Ranaut in an episode of Koffee with Karan, which then triggered a fire amongst the people within the Hindi film industry and opened ground of discussions amongst the fans as well.

As she tagged Karan Johar as the “Flagbearer of Nepotism” and “A Movie Mafia” on the show, the entire industry rose to how the actress had questioned the judgement of a well-established filmmaker who was known to have given chances to many Bollywood biggies.

What followed was a public backlash from KJo that acted like fuel to the fire and led to the common people talking about the preference that is given to those who already have a Bollywood connection. With mixed reactions over the issue from various levels of the society, many actors came forward stating their opinions too, while some decided to stay mum.
While actors like Arjun Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Alia Bhatt have played safe, Ranbir Kapoor, openly went on record to say that he is a “disarming product of nepotism” and a few others chose to scream at the top of their voice taking digs at Kangana and not just stopping there but going on to say in front of thousands that “Nepotism Rocks”.

The IIFA act by Varun Dhawan (son of filmmaker, David Dhavan), Saif Ali Khan (son of actress, Sharmila Tagore) and Karan Johar (son of late filmmaker, Yash Johar) had further got the entire nation by surprise. When the three big names of the industry boasted of how they had been born with a silver spoon and that it “Rocked!”
Viewed by millions of people, the three self-designated privileged men were flaked by the common people on social media. What they termed as a ‘Joke’ was clearly not taken down well by those who looked up to them. Owing to such reactions, Kjo, Varun Dhawan and Saif Ali Khan decided to make public apologies to anyone and everyone who had been hurt by their humour.

Saif even further, went down to pen an Open Letter on Nepotism which led to more backlash than what its actual purpose of calming everyone down was. He said that biologically a person was much more competent to do what his ancestors had been doing and so justified how acting was in his blood and that he was obviously supposed to follow his ancestor’s footsteps. Kangana retaliated back with a witty response saying that if the profession of the ancestors determined the value and capabilities of a person, then she would have been instead farming rather than have made a place for herself.

This ongoing war of words is something that seems will not calm down easily. With the struggles that the people who have no connections in the industry whatsoever face to those who feel it’s their birth right to be able to get a place in the industry is both a matter of opinions due to the background that they belong and also the connections that they are easily available to. As for many common people like us, Talent has just become a word that has lost its meaning in this whole feud.

I Am Not Going Anywhere Mr. Johar, Kangana Fights Back

Mumbai FFB (Filmi Files Bureau)Director Producer Karan Johar and actor Kangana Ranaut are going through an acrimonious fight. This public spat has gone worse with Karan Johar asking her to leave the industry if she didn’t like the way Bollywood functions.

Now in an interview with ‘Mumbai Mirror’ Kangana has blasted Karan Johar for his remarks against her. Here is what she reportedly said in the interview
I can’t speak for Karan Johar’s understanding of nepotism. If he thinks that it is restricted to nephews, daughters and cousins, I have nothing to say. But, to say that he chose not to give me work is to mock an artiste. As importantly, his memory appears to be poor because we worked together in a movie (Ungli), which was produced by him. And quickly realised our sensibilities did not match.
I’m also at a loss to understand how he gave me a platform by inviting me to be on his show. I’ve been on several platforms before with several global icons. To say he helped me voice my opinions is to discredit me as an artiste and a public personality.And, I think, it should be added here that I was invited to be a part of the show in its fifth season. His team requested my team for months for my dates.
But what is pertinent here is: why is Karan Johar trying to shame a woman for being a woman? What is this about the ‘woman card’ and the ‘victim card’? This kind of talk is demeaning to all women, particularly the vulnerable because they are the ones who really need to use them. The ‘woman card’ might not help you become a Wimbledon champ, or win you Olympic medals, or bag National awards. It might not even land you a job, but it can get a pregnant woman who feels her water is about to break a ‘ladies’ seat on a crowded bus. It can be used as a cry for help when you sense a threat. The same goes for the ‘victim card’, which women like my sister, Rangoli, who is a victim of an acid attack, can use while fighting for justice in court.
I use every card possible. At the workplace, it’s the badass card to fight cutthroat competition. With my family and loved ones, it’s the love card. When fighting the world, it’s the dignity card, and for a seat in a bus, it’s the woman card. What is important to understand is that we are not fighting people, we are fighting a mentality. I am not fighting Karan Johar, I am fighting male chauvinism.
Now that Karan is the father of a little daughter, he should provide her with all these cards – the ‘woman card’ and the ‘victim card’, as also the ‘self-made-independent-woman card’, and the ‘badass card’ that I flashed on his show. We will use whatever we need to ensure no one rocks our boat.
I’m also a little surprised at the “graciousness” he says he displayed in choosing to not edit the jousty bits on the show. While I’d have blacklisted the channel if something like that had happened, let’s also remember that a channel wants TRPs, and he is just a paid host.
Also, the Indian film industry is not a small studio given to Karan by his father when he was in his early 20s. That is just a small molecule. The industry belongs to every Indian and is highly recommended for outsiders like me whose parents were too poor to give me a formal training. I learnt on the job and got paid for it, using the money to educate myself in New York. He is nobody to tell me to leave it. I’m definitely not going anywhere, Mr Johar.”

If Kangana Is Terrorised By Bollywood Then She Should Leave: KJo

London: (PTI) Producer Director Karan Johar has criticised actress Kangana Ranaut for constantly playing the “victim card” and blaming Bollywood for terrorising her.

Kangana recently appeared on Johar’s celebrity talk show where she called him the “flag-bearer of nepotism”.
“I am done with Kangana playing the woman card and the victim card. I am done,” Johar said during a session with Anupama Chopra at London School of Economics, India Forum.
You cannot be this victim at every given point of time who has this sad story to tell about how she has been terrorised by ‘bad Bollywood’. If it is that way then leave,” he added.
On an episode of “Koffee With Karan”, Kangana said Johar would be perfect to play the role of a “stereotypical Bollywood biggie who is snooty and completely intolerant to outsiders. Flag-bearer of nepotism. The movie mafia” in her biopic if it is ever made.
Johar said he may not have agreed with her comments but he let it air as he respected her point of view.
“She had a great prospective and point of view. Everyone lauded her for coming on to my show and (how she) ‘gave it off to Karan’. I was gracious enough to not cut anything and let it be that way. I could have edited it as it was my show. I cut none of it. I said, ‘No, let the world listen to her opinion and she must voice it’. I gave her the platform.”
Previously, during a chat session on Twitter, someone asked Johar, “Was Kangana correct about nepotism?” To which he replied, “Not entirely! She made an impact with her sweeping statements! That was fun… For her! And the show.”

2016 The Year of Heartbreaks and Heartaches!

By Deepti Duggal

The year 2016…also a Leap year.. a year good for love and romance according to astrologers but it seems our stars in showbiz are bent upon proving our poor ‘jyotishis’ wrong. While the whole world welcomed 2016 with a kiss and hug , our stars kissed and hugged each other good bye…
Here we bring you some of the heart clenching celebs’ breakups which have taken over the B-town these days….

1) Farhan Akhtar – Adhuna Bhabani

Love really does wonders to one and does not even see the age difference, so while we thought that Farhan Akthar and the much older to him Adhuna Bhabani were the couple to look up too, one was left in shock when they announced to go their separate ways after 16 years of marriage. Although they both did it in the most dignified way keeping their kids as their utmost priority, a little birdie said that it was Farhan’s proximity to his Wazir co star Aditi Hydari that led to this bye bye. We are also as clueless as everyone else…

2) Ranabir Kapoor- Katrina Kaif

Ranabir left Deepika and Katrina left Salman to be together… sounds like a jigsaw puzzle, but when they both came together we thought we would see one more Big Fat Kapoor Wedding ! This was further strengthened when the pics of both of them kissing on the terrace on 31st eve went viral. But alas our hopes were shattered when they both decided to go their own ways. Its been 4 months today and last heard is that Katrina has moved out bag and baggage from their love nest…. The reason still being a secret. Oh c’mon guys.. the suspense is killing us !!

3) Virat Kohli – Anushka Sharma

Their famous On-Off relationship was the talk of the town. While this couple had been quite open about their status, from Anushka being trolled on twitter when Virat didn’t perform well to their secret rendezvous in foreign lands, still it took a toll on their happy go lucky fairytale and they parted ways. It was rumored that Virat wanted marriage while Anushka wanted career…Last heard they are trying to get together and hence the season of dinners and holding hands in public have again started.

4) Arbaaz Khan – Malaika Arora

Their love story was everyone’s dream love story.. meeting for a coffee ad to getting married in one of the biggest filmy families, it seemed nothing could go wrong. But all fairytales don’t have a happy ending and most of us fainted when we heard that this couple had also split. While both kept quiet and made us think and think over the reason, some said it was due to Arbaaz’s financial incapability to support his wife to some saying that it was Malaika’s lifestyle that caused the rift. Ultimately they just gave a dignified statement. Only time would tell us the real reason.

5) Hrithik Roshan – Kangana Ranaut

The most controversial of relationship and the most ugly of breakups. To cut a long story short, it all started when Kangana called Hrithik as her “ silly ex” , Hrithik sending a legal notice and then started a series of legal notices, emails going viral, Kangana’s so called obsession with Hrithik… phew… now that’s tiring….

Last heard they were still embroiled in the legal tussles and in the meantime Hrithik was on holidays with his sons and Kangana was winning the National award.

But inspite of the breakups, Bollywood also tasted some marriage times like Priety Zinta marrying Mr Goodenough and Karan Singh Grover marrying Bipasha Basu… well that would be told in another tale till then lets for the last time wish that these heartbreaks don’t hamper the bollywood business.

Kangana’s Kiss Makes Vir Das’ Lips Bleed!

Mumbai: (IANS) She is playing a wild character in ‘Revolver Rani’ and true to her role Kangana Ranaut got aggressive while locking lips with her co-star Vir Das for a scene, said a source. Apparently, the actress kissed him so wildly that his lips began to bleed.

“In one scene, Kangana is arrested and is on her way to jail. She requests for some time to attend to an urgent matter and drags Vir Das to a room and kisses him so wildly that his lips start bleeding! No actress till date has portrayed such a `manizing character`,” a source said.

Set for an April 25 release, the film will present Kangana as an extremely dominating and aggressive woman, in contrast to her role in her latest hit ‘Queen’.