The rules of pangas

The outspoken Kangana Ranaut, whose film Panga is hitting the screens soon, says she felt an instant connection with the movie.

“I think this film found me. My struggles resonate with many, and I have been very vocal about my struggles. So, maybe (director) Ashwiny (Iyer Tiwari) ma’am saw that in me. I think this is her story, but she just added kabbadi to it. Women lose touch with their dreams when they become mothers. I’d say, this is her (Ashwiny’s) biopic,” the 32-year-old says at the film’s trailer launch.

The actor added that the feature — her first sports film — was a challenge. “I have never been into sports growing up, so I had to prepare a lot for the film. I was a science student and read Harivansh Rai Bachchan growing up. I had to learn the sport just like other actors, and I had to work a lot to get into a mother’s world. It’s not about a sport, but about one’s dreams and fulfilling them,” she says.

“I left home, taking a panga with my father at an early age. When I entered the industry, I felt frightened by the manner in which women actors were treated. Their intellectual growth, their wrinkles and grey hair are frowned upon. Women actors’ careers come with a short shelf life, but I would like to leave this profession on my own terms and not because of my wrinkles,” she says.

Having taken on a veritable constellation of B-town figures, Kangana warns that you have to do your homework before going on the warpath. “Before you take any panga, you should be 100 per cent truthful. Your statements should not be coated with lies. People are very accepting; they can accept the bitterest truth, but they can’t accept a liar. As I have always said, people take time to accept the truth, but they ultimately do,” asserts the actress.

“I have enjoyed taking pangas with people from the industry. You know how charming they are; they will kiss you, hug you and sweet-talk you to your face. But they are the very people who actively plot against you behind your back. My most interesting and happening pangas have happened with the industry wallahs,” she laughs.

Turning her thoughts to the ongoing unrest over the government’s new  Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which is raging on in the country, she notes: “When demonstrating, the first thing that’s important is that people don’t resort to violence. Who gives you the right to burn buses, trains, to create a ruckus in the country?”

“Today, because of democracy, your leaders have come from within amongst us. They’re not from Italy or Japan. They have come from the smallest places, like me. You can’t say that one film is a fluke if someone is sustaining a career for 10-15 years. I am here on my merit. So, isn’t this democracy that if someone has gained power on the basis of what they wrote in the manifesto, and they are today fulfilling that? So, you can’t be a sore loser,” she concludes.