Kangana Ranaut Story
Kangana Ranaut is a famous Indian actress, filmmaker, and politician born on 23rd March 1987 in a small town in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. She received many prestigious awards for portraying unconventional and robust women in Hindi films, including 4 National Film Awards and 5 Filmfare Awards.
She has frequently featured in listings of India’s most stylish and attractive celebrities and also featured six times in Forbes India’s Top 100 Celebrity list. In 2020, the Government of India honored her with the country’s fourth-highest civilian award, Padma Shri.
Early Life and Background
Kangana Ranaut hails from a Rajput family. She lives in their ancestral haveli in Bhambla, Himachal Pradesh, with her parents, elder sister, and younger brother. She describes her childhood as happy and simple, but she is very stubborn and rebellious. Kangana started experimenting with fashion at a very young age, and she often dressed in clothes that seemed bizarre to her family and neighbors.
She attended DAV School in Chandigarh and initially wanted to become a doctor at her family’s insistence. However, after a failed unit test in chemistry during her 12th standard, she has to reconsider her career options. She prepared for the All-India Pre-Medical Test but did not turn up for the exam. Her decision not to pursue a medical career led to constant fighting with her parents, so only at 16 was she determined to find her freedom and space, so she decided to move to Delhi.
In the early days of her stay in Delhi, she was unsure of her career options. She took some modeling assignments but didn’t consider them a long career due to their scope of creativity. Kangana shifted her focus to acting and joined the Asmita Theatre Group in Delhi. After getting a positive response for her plays, she moved to Mumbai to pursue her acting career in movies.
In Mumbai, she enrolled in a four-month acting course at Asha Chandra Drama School. In her early days in Mumbai, Kangana struggled financially and sometimes only ate bread with Achaar. Kangana’s family and relatives were unhappy with her decision to enter Bollywood, and they only contacted her after the release of her movie Life in a Metro in 2007.
Bollywood Career
In her early years in the film industry, she was initially written off because of negative publicity due to her troubled relationships and funny accent. However, her performance in unconventional roles established her as a big movie star. In 2005, Kangana signed a movie called Gangster, released in 2006. The film emerged as a critical and commercial hit, and her performance was praised everywhere. She got many awards for her role, including Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. After establishing a reputation for portraying powerful neurotic characters, Kangana started seeking less emotionally exhausting projects for her.
In 2011, Kangana Ranaut made her mark in the Indian film industry with her role in the romantic comedy film Tanu Weds Manu opposite R. Madhavan. This movie was a big commercial success and proved to be a turning point in her acting career, and her performance was praised everywhere.
She got the Best Actress award at Screen and Zee Cine Awards for her role of Tanu in the movie.
After the success of Tanu Weds Manu, Kangana worked in 4 other movies in the next two years: Rascals, Game, Double Dhamaal, and Miley Naa Miley Hum. Only Double Dhamaal performs well at the box office.
Established Actress
In 2013, Kangana Ranaut starred in Krrish 3 opp Hrithik Roshan as a shapeshifting mutant Kaya. This movie was a big hit and became Kangana’s most profitable venture until then. Kangana Ranaut established her position as a leading actress in the Indian Film Industry at the beginning of 2014. Starring opposite Rajkummar Rao and Lisa Haydon in the comedy-drama film Queen, Ranaut portrays the role of Rani, a young woman who embarks on a solo honeymoon after the cancellation of her wedding by her fiancé. The movie and Kangana’s performance were critically acclaimed, and the film was a big commercial hit. That year, she won the National Film and Filmfare Award for the best actress for this movie.
In 2015, Kangana Ranaut played a double role in Tanu Weds Manu Returns, the sequel to Tanu Weds Manu. She beautifully portrayed both the character of Tanuja from the previous movie and the role of Kusum, an aspiring athlete. The film received positive reviews from critics, and everyone praised Kangana’s performance. It became a big box office hit and one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films that year. For her powerful performance in the film, Kangana won the second National Award for Best Actress and the Filmfare Critics Award.
Setbacks and Professional Expansion
After a year-long absence from the big screen, Kangana Ranaut starred as Julia in Vishal Bhardwaj’s period war drama movie Rangoon opposite Shahid Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan. The film got mixed reviews and was one of the biggest flops in 2017, but her performance was very appreciated. In 2019, Kangana Ranaut played the lead role in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, a biographical film about the Rani of Jhansi, who played a crucial role in India’s fight for freedom. Kangana assumed a dual role as a co-director and lead actress in this film. The movie had moderate success at the box office, and for her exceptional performance, Kangana was nominated for the Filmfare Awards.
In 2020, Kangana starred opposite Jassi Gill in the sports film Panga, where she played the role of a young mother and homemaker determined to return to kabaddi. Despite having a good subject, the film did not perform well at the box office. In the same year, Kangana Ranaut established her film production company, Manikarnika Films. In 2021, she appeared in Thalaivi opposite Arvind Swamy, a biopic of actor and politician J. Jayalalithaa. The film got mixed reviews, but she was praised for her performance as Jayalalithaa.
In 2022, she played a spy in the action film Dhaakad, but the film did not do well at the box office. In 2024, Kangana portrayed an Indian Air Force pilot in Tejas. Again, this film did not do well at the box office. In her upcoming movie Emergency, she will play Indira Gandhi and work with R. Madhavan on a yet untitled physiological thriller film.
Controversies
Kangana is one of India’s most fashionable and controversial celebrities. Her reputation for expressing her opinions openly in public has frequently sparked controversies. She has been known for supporting the CBI probe in the Sushant Singh Rajput death case. In May 2021, Twitter permanently suspended her account for repeated violations of the company’s abusive behavior and hateful conduct policies, and the ban was lifted in January 2023.
In September 2020, Kangana criticized the Uddhav Thackeray Government for mishandling the case of the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, following which she even got death threats from various people. Given the nature of the threats, Kangana Ranaut was given security from the Central Reserve Police Force by the Central Government. After some time, on the orders of the Shiv Sena government, the BMC issued a notice for illegal construction in her house and demolished the illegal portions. Following the demolition, the Bombay High Court criticized the BMC, gave a verdict in favor of Kangana, and ordered the BMC to compensate her.
Political Career
Kangana Ranaut is a big supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party. She often expresses her political views openly. In March 2024, she was named the BJP candidate from the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency for the 2024 Indian general elections.
She won the Mandi Lok Sabha seat with 74,500 votes, defeating her main opponent, Vikramaditya Singh from Congress.
Personal Life
During her struggling days, Kangana Ranaut got support from Aditya Pancholi and his wife, Zarina Wahab, and she considered them her family away from home. In 2007, Kangana Ranaut filed a police complaint against Aditya Pancholi for physically assaulting her under the influence of alcohol. While filming Raaz: The Mystery Continued in 2008, Kangana began a romantic relationship with her co-star Adhyayan Suman, but in the following, they parted ways to focus on their professional careers. In many interviews, Kangana has expressed her desire not to be bound by a relationship and says she will never get married.
Kangana is a devoted Hindu who lives in Mumbai with her sister, Rangoli. She follows Swami Vivekananda’s teachings and considers meditation the highest form of worshipping God. In 2012, Kangana Ranaut was named the Best-Dressed Personality by the Indian edition of People magazine.
She is a vegetarian and, in 2013, was listed as India’s hottest vegetarian in a poll conducted by PETA.
Kangana Ranaut is a free-spirited, creative person who cannot be slotted into a particular mould. Kangana is also known for her forthrightness in expressing her opinions in public on issues ranging from feminism to films.