Looking back at Kangana Ranaut’s journey, she had once said, ‘I’ve seen life from the highest mountain’ – Times of India

Birthday girl Kangana Ranaut has played the maximum biographical characters: Monika Bedi in her debut film Gangster, Parveen Babi in Woh Lamhe, Madhubala in Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai , Geetanjali Nagpal in Fashion.
After her arrival from Himachal Pradesh Kangana was hosted in Mumbai by Aditya Pancholi. She even stayed in a flat owned by the Pancholis. She was apparently spotted by Anurag Basu at a coffee shop to be signed for Gangster, though this version of her beginning in Bollywood has been challenged by many including producer Pahlaj Nihalani who claims he was first to sign her for film.

Kangana was to make her debut in a film entitled I Love You Boss, produced by Pahlaj Nihalani and directed by Deepak Shivdasani. The film never got made. She was mentored by Anurag Basu initially. She was so close to his family that she would spend hours in Basu’s house during her days of struggle. Ranaut had a fall-out with Basu over the length of her role in his Kites.They are no longer on talking terms.

Before Queen, undoubtedly the piece de resistance of her career, Kangana’s career hit rock-bottom with duds like Tezz, Rascals and Rajjo. ‘R’ is clearly not a lucky letter for Kangana. Rascals, Rajjo, Revolver Rani are some of her biggest fiascos.

Queen re-wrote the course of Kangana’s career. She won all the major popular awards for her performance. But refused to collect the awards as she does not respect the popular awards.

Before Queen, there was Gangster in 2006. The minute she appeared on screen, all hyper, neurotic, suicidal and doomed as the gangster’s moll, a star had arrived. She was restless, a meteor ready to burn on the cinematic galaxy. Strangely her first two co-stars Shiney Ahuja and Upen Patel got left far behind. It was as if the universe had made space only for one star at that point of time.

Fashion in 2008 clearly favoured Priyanka Chopra. Kangana left a (b)lasting impact as a ramp-queen whose life goes up in flames due to bad choices and drug abuse. Kangana played Shonali Gujral (based on the tragic downfall of a real-life Delhi model) like a waif posing as a diva, a lost child masquerading as a poised seductress. That sense of being lost never leaves her characters.

Pre-empting her Queen-ly triumph, Kangana scored very high in Tanu Weds Manu (2011) as the small-town girl who has drinking and spousal issues which she won’t resolve reasonably. She won’t marry the man of her parent’s choice. But she won’t let him go either. When did Kangana ever claim to be reasonable? This was a khula-galaa wala performance. Robust and passionate, emotionally resonant and cathartic.

Kangana was born to rule. In an early interview she had declared, “Other girls my age are going on blind dates and joining salsa classes. I’m here playing a woman who lost her mind to a world where the only reality is unreality. Not that I’m complaining. I think I’ve been very lucky. I’ve seen life from the highest mountain. I’m on my own since the age of 16, though my parents were always there to support me. I took off to chase my dreams and here I am.”