Kangana Ranaut brings Koffee with Karan a long way

After reading one article too many on Kangana Ranaut’s no-holds-barred interview in Koffee with Karan, I finally watched it. As someone who thoroughly enjoys all things Bollywood, I watched the episode quite entertained. But couldn’t quite figure out what all the gush over it was about. And was just about to chalk it up to pre-Rangoon release hype, when the memory of a previous interview on the same show came back.

It was Season 3, to be precise. And the interview was one to promote a film called ‘No Problem’, which no one remembers now. Her co-stars, Anil Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt, were the two central guests on that episode, with Kangana sashaying in a little later as a very uncomfortable third actor in the film. Cut to 2017, and Season 5 on Koffee with Karan, there is so much similar and yet it is so different. Here too, Kangana was promoting a yet to be released film and here too, there were two male co-stars in the picture. The difference? This time, the episode was all.about.her. She was clearly the star of the show, seated in the middle between two co-stars, Kangana was all the frankness and maturity she has grown into.

This was an actor who was sitting on the Koffee couch purely on her own merit, with no support systems to push her forward, fairly horrendous romantic history, including one ex, who has accused of practicing witchcraft (and that is so ignorant at so many levels, it is the subject of another post) and another ostensible one who says she has entirely dreamed up a relationship between them, thereby implying she is insane (I don’t know what this means, either) and poor film choices along the way. And yet she is here. On the merit of nothing more than her talent to speak for her. A string of solid films that includes the Tanu weds Manu part one and two as well as the heart- warming Queen, which no one could have done like Ranaut does it, have made Kangana a super star.

In fact, these successes have put her ahead even of her co-stars who have not had much to write home about in the recent past. This is especially true for Saif Ali Khan, who hasn’t had a single hit since the 2012 film Cocktail. Maybe its Karmic retribution for being part of that atrociously regressive film, but that is also the subject of another post. Shahid Kapur has had better luck, at least garnering critical acclaim for films like Udta Punjab and Haider in the recent years. But he too, doesn’t come close to beating Kangana to it, who has also had some flops like Katti Batti and I love NY, since her last big hit, but these have hardly dented her star status.   

But the lady made the biggest point to the host, Karan Johar, himself, who has made Stage II of his career promoting filmi kids tirelessly. Telling him about his nepotistic professional behaviours on his face, she pretty much told him she gives a rat’s ass about his cozy coterie creating ways. And this is such a far cry from where she was in her last interview, where she spoke only when spoken to, and that too very timidly, answering honestly but in a limited manner. Not that you could blame her, appearing on the show as she was, with men who were at least generation older than her and where there was absolutely no easy exchange or chemistry. No wonder no one remembers No Problem.

You might or might not appreciate Ranaut for her acting talent or her star power, but one thing is amply clear – she is truly her own making. And just for that, hats off. 

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