A look into Kangana’s choice

Actor talks about women empowerment, bagging National Awards and featuring in a Meena Kumari biopic.

MUMBAI:

Actor Kangana Ranaut said the short film My Choice, featuring Deepika Padukone, must be appreciated for its effort towards promotion of women empowerment, but she feels empowerment can’t happen by becoming sexists. “Women empowerment doesn’t mean you create complex among men. Then, it will take 20 more years to empower men. It is all about evolving as a soul, as a human being. It doesn’t mean that you become a sexist,” Kangana said on Thursday at an event, where she was asked about her views on the video.

Directed by Homi Adjania, My Choice calls for a change in the mindset of men about women and urges them to stop judging women for their choices of clothes, profession and life. The video shows Deepika talking about the freedom of choice that women must have regarding multiple issues, including having the choice to indulge in sex before marriage or out of marriage or not having sex at all. Kangana said she hasn’t watched the video yet but is “glad people are contributing in their own way. Everyone has different expectations but it should be appreciated for the efforts they are putting in.”

On the film front, Kangana has gained ground with her stint in the 2014 film Queen and recently bagged a National Film Award for it. She said life hasn’t changed much for her after the win, but people are now showing faith in her and she’s getting offers from notable filmmakers for women-centric films. She finds the development ‘amazing’.

“After my second National Award, it’s not that something has changed in my life, but it’s a landmark in my career. People have now started believing in me,” she said. “I’m getting a lot of offers from big directors for female-centric films and they are the ones who I always wanted to work with,” she added. Kangana has earlier won a ‘Best Supporting Actress’ National Film Award for Fashion. She is thrilled to have two National Awards to her credit at an early age. “I appreciate the fact that at the age of 28, I have won two National Awards. That means a lot to me,” she shared.

Kangana is currently busy with her upcoming films Tanu Weds Manu Returns and Katti Batti. She has also pocketed a biopic on late Indian screen icon Meena Kumari, for which, she will begin shooting in mid-2016. “I’ve been offered a film on Meena Kumari and I hope things work out,” she confirmed. “But before that, I’ll be doing Sujoy Ghosh and Hansal Mehta’s films; so, I won’t be able to start with Meena Kumari’s biopic before mid-2016. But that’s happening,” she added.

Kumari, best known for her work in films such as Chhoti Bahu and Sahib Biwi Aur Ghulam, was an iconic Bollywood star as well as a talented poet. Her personal life was full of pain and sorrow and she died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1972 at 39. The biopic on the late actor will be helmed by filmmaker Tigmanshu Dhulia. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2015.

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