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In 2006, ahead of the release of Anurag Basu’s Gangster, the media was abuzz with news that the filmmaker spotted the then-young model-cum-actor Kangana Ranaut at a cafe and decided to cast her as the lead in the film. “Nope, that was not what happened at all. I was selected through an audition, but when you are promoting a film, you need to have an exciting story, right? It was all just a PR-driven stunt,” said actor-filmmaker-politician Kangana, while speaking on Raj Shamani’s podcast, Figuring Out, recently.
While Kangana spoke on a multitude of topics on the podcast, including her beef with Bollywood’s functioning, politics and more, the actor also opened up about how it all started in cinema. “You know, my parents aren’t really well-versed with cinema or what was happening in Bollywood. But they knew there was a film called Murder, and it was famous for all the wrong reasons,” said Kangana, as she shared the initial reaction of her parents when they were told about Gangster. “Anurag Basu, who made Murder, was also making Gangster, and I told my parents that my debut would be with the makers of Murder. My papa was furious and asked me to come back immediately and there was a huge issue that happened over it.”
This wasn’t the first obstacle in Kangana’s Hindi cinema debut; the role she was offered required her to play the mother of a 4- or 5-year-old child. “I was fresh out of school, and the makers weren’t sure if I’d pull it off. They wanted to cast Chitrangada Singh for the role and went ahead with the project. However, due to certain circumstances, the role came back to me. I didn’t mind the detours, and I said I will do the film. I just wanted to star in a movie,” said the National award-winning actor, who went on to list the next big obstacle to her entry. “The production team wanted my passport.”
Here’s the trailer of Emergency:
A heartily laughing Kangana, who revealed that almost no one in her family had ever flown abroad till then, said, “When the team asked me for my passport, I asked them what it meant. Anurag asked, ‘Are you from Timbaktoo to not understand what a passport meant?’” Worried that it might lead to being dropped off the project once again, Kangana reached out to her father for help. “It was a moment of truth for me. If he decided to help me get the passport, it was like him coming to terms with what I was going to do with my life. As an influential person, and someone with strong ties with the Congress party, he managed to get the passport in a couple of days, and I went to South Korea. It was my first foreign trip. It was my first shoot. It was my first day of schedule,” said Kangana.
On the movie front, the newly-elected Mandi MP is awaiting the release of the biographical political drama, Emergency, which has her double up as the lead actor and the director. She will be playing former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in the film, which also features Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, and Mahima Chaudhry in pivotal roles. The film is slated for a release on September 6.
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