By Suneel V. Gaur & Rajesh V. Gaur
Kangana Ranaut celebrates her 26th birthday on March 23. It has been seven years since Kangana made her dream debut with Anurag Basu’s Gangster in 2006. She has high self-esteem, is sensitive and bold, and has carried herself entirely on her own shoulders. Despite many obstacles in her career, she has carved a niche in Bollywood without having a godfather in the industry. She says her days of struggle are behind her now.
“My journey has been great. It is a mix of struggle and appreciation. But it is only now that I can say I am enjoying my work. Initially, there was lot of struggle but now I am getting the kind of roles that I want to do. I now have a say,” said Kangana recently at the first look of her film ‘I Love New York’ opposite Sunny Deol.
The actress, said she never had a shortage of roles but her struggle story had more to do with not getting interesting and desired roles in films and getting typecast. “Struggle for me was not a shortage of films but not getting the right kind of films. After Gangster I was being typecast, be it Life in a... Metro, Fashion or others.
“So, I actually had to put my foot down and say ‘No I am not going to take more of this’. I almost had to stay out of work for sometime to change the course of the image I was getting into, without wanting it. I always felt that I had much more to give than just doing the same crazy, over the top characters and dramatic roles,” said the National-award-winning actress. And it worked. Kangana went on to star in films like Once Upon a Time in Mumbai and Tanu Weds Manu in which her ‘quirky-chirpy’ act was appreciated by the audience.
During this time Kangana was part of some inconsequential films like Tezz, Rascals and Double Dhamaal among others. “I do not regret being part of such films in my career so far. I am not a fussy actor. Sometimes I don’t have really exciting offers, so I do take up such films. A lot of actors say that if they do not get good offers they prefer to sit at home, I don’t have any such philosophy,” she said.
Was there ever a time when the talented actress had lost hope of achieving her goals. Kangana says she is not fussy about working in big banner films but would rather do meaty roles in smaller ones. From my experience I have seen that one should do films that gives us satisfaction and not just run after something. My biggest film till date Game was the biggest flop and a practically smaller film Tanu Weds Manu went on to be a success. Kangana is confident about her latest lineup: I love New York, Queen, and Shootout at Wadala.
“This year I am finishing work. I am excited about next year. I have four films releasing and all roles are different from each other. I am a very spontaneous person and will just go with the flow,” she said.