The Curious Genius of Kangana Ranaut

It was 2006. I was 24. Back in India from Oz after eternity. For the first time I saw the real world & I didn’t like it.

Freshly shattered from the divorce with my golden girl who made me believe in miracles. Real life hit me like a tipsy dinosaur accidentally stepping on a well-fed fat rich baby. Pulping the kid into a road sign. Gory & gorgeous.   

I took refuge in Ahmedabad. I had tons of time to kill. No job or wife & a small bag of dollars to get rid of. 

I activated self-destruction mode. What better way to do it than watching Hindi films. After few months of heavy dosage my condition was no better than a crystal meth addict. Bollywood continued churning out atrocious films with clockwork consistency, destroying my soul insidiously.

One afternoon I saw a melodic song playing on the TV. A raw, smoky-eyed girl walking around the aesthetic terrains of Korea. I thought another dumb, teenaged, noodle-haired, three-smooches-two-songs Hashmi heroine from the Bhatt camp. I knew I had to watch the film to witness how far has Bollywood sunk now. To batter my soul further.

But I was as wrong as every Punjabi is about M. K. Gandhi. This 19-year-old lass lit-up the screen even brighter than Louis Litt does in Suits. And Louis truly breathes fire.

Over the years Bollywood has been slow to realise her unparalleled potential. Indians have a hopeless love for celebrity kids who speak accented English & talk about how difficult it is to be a star kid & travelling first class & going to New York to study film & driving convertible Porsche & tackling college chics who're dying to sleep with them. Yeah, what an awful life.

I almost feel stupid to blame the lazy, talent-dead Sonakshi or Abhishek. It is us who've inflated their egos. It is us who must wake up & ask ourselves the real question. Why are we queuing up for a Selfie with Abhishek or Sonakshi? Why are they any better than us? Are they really any better? I don't think so. It is our inborn sub-conscious inferiority complex that makes us adore them. The same reason we love the white people. The same reason we hate the color black.

Anyway, back to Kangana. Whenever she’s got the role, she has swallowed it. She did Woh Lamhe, which bombed at the box office. Portraying yesteryear bombshell & Mahesh Bhatt’s once girlfriend, Parveen Babi, she matched if not outdid stalwarts like Smita & Shabana.

In Fashion, she showed what screen presence means when she struts on the ramp. You gotta watch her bathroom scene with Priyanka Chopra to witness the difference between a great actor & a great star. Ms. Chopra won the National Film award for Best Actress & Kangana was given the same award under the supporting actress category. Even the National jury prefers stars over actors. 

Then came Tanu Weds Manu. She gets the film rolling in her first scene where she meets this guy who has come to see her for marriage. She sits through the scene literally passed out. Even in passed out state she steals the show. How's that for acting.

Still the country at large refused to pay attention to her unmatched contribution to the rather insipid Hindi commercial cinema. She is from a small town you see & isn't sleeping with an A lister.

But everyone from Karan Johar to Anurag Kashyap to the Mango tree barber to the fat aunty ji stood & applauded Kangana for Queen. Scene after scene Kangana destroys you in the most beautiful way.

I would go out on a limb here & say that Kangana's performance is the best acting I’ve seen in a commercial Hindi film in the last decade. Even surpassing Langda Tyagi (Saif) & Janardhan Jhakar (Ranbir). 

Kangana won the National Film award for Queen in the year Priyanka had given a standing-ovation worthy performance as Mary Kom. How's that for a comeback punch.

Queen, if not for the language barrier, would have clearly got Kangana an Oscar nomination for the best actor female category. I realise some people will not agree to this & some even didn’t like the film. I really hope these people have deep pockets because they will need long-term treatment for whatever delusions they're suffering from.

I recently chanced upon the trailer of Tanu Weds Manu Returns. She has a double role in that. Kangana, in real life, hails from Himachal & had no prior knowledge of the Haryanvi language. Watch the trailer & be ready to be mesmerized when she speaks rapid-fire Haryanvi. I watched the trailer few times over & couldn’t believe her diction. It was pitch-perfect.

As Raftaar rapped ‘Oye hoye....ab yeah kar ke dikhao’ in his song Swag Mera Desi challenging Honey Singh. Kangana has thrown the challenge, not only to pretending-to-be actors like Sonakshi & Abhishek, but to legends like Aamir Khan, Big B & Ranbir Kapoor (RK). (P.S. As sugary & fake RK comes out in interviews, he is one hell of an actor.)

Wouldn’t it be killer to have Kangana & Aamir in the same film? Not as the clichéd romantic couple but much more, like Blood Diamond (Jennifer Connelly & Leonardo DiCaprio).

I hardly watch desi flicks these days but I know I will be rushing for the first day first show of Kangana’s Tanu Weds Manu returns. Even if the film doesn’t live up to the billing, I know Kangana will. 

Nine years have flown since that evening when Kangana taught me how pre-conceived notions are the worst human trait. I have fallen in love once more since. She has been the most beautiful & important person of my life for the last five years. 

P.S. The undisputed legend of Hindi cinema, Amitabh Bachchan, was practically unknown till age 31. Kangana, 28, is already the gold standard, make that platinum.