New Delhi:
It has been six years sinceKangana Ranaut made her Bollywood debut and the actress, whohas successfully made a mark despite being an outsider in theindustry, says her struggle-free journey has just begun.
Kangana, 25, made her dream debut with Anurag Basu'sGangster in 2006.
"My journey has been great. It is a mix of struggle andappreciation. But it is only now that I can say I am enjoyingmy work. Initially, there was lot of struggle but now amgetting the kind of roles that I want to do. I now have asay," Kangana told PTI in an interview.
The actress, who is currently in the Capital to shootdirector Vikas Bahl's Queen, says she never had dearth ofroles but her struggle story had more to do with not gettingdesired roles in films and getting typecast.
"Everybody has different kind of struggle. For some it islack of work but for me it was not getting the right kind offilms. After Gangster I was being typecast, be it Life ina... Metro, Fashion or others.
"So, I actually had to put my foot down and say 'No Iam not going to take more of this'. I almost had to stay outof work sometime to change the course of the image I wasgetting into without wanting it. I always felt that I had muchmore to give than just doing the same edgy, dramatic roles."The National-award-winning actress says there was a timewhen filmmakers did not even consider her for many interestingroles because of her image.
"Whenever a director had a crazy, over-the-top characterin the film, they would approach me. I was not getting anyother role. There were so many interesting films that werebeing made but they would never consider me. So, I made aconscious decision not to play such characters anymore," shesays.
And it worked. Kangana went on to star in films likeOnce Upon a Time in Mumbaai and Tanu Weds Manu in whichher 'quirky-chirpy' act was appreciated by the audience andcritics alike.
During this time Kangana was part of not much noteworthyfilms like Tezz", Rascals and Double Dhamaal amongothers.When asked if she regrets doing such films, she says, "Ido not regret being part of such films in my career so far. Iam not a fussy actor. Sometimes I don't have really excitingoffers, so I do take up such films even if there are 10 actorsin the main cast. It is not necesaay that you always get goodoffers.
"A lot of actors say that if they do not get good offersthey prefer to sit at home, I don't have any such philosophy.I keep doing something or the other. I cannot sit at homewithout work."
Kangana says she is not fussy about working in big bannerfilms and would rather do meaty roles in smaller ones."I don't have a reason to be fussy about big bannerfilms. Because so far whatever films have worked for me arenot from big banners. From my experience I have seen that oneshould do films that make one happy and not just run aftersomething.
"And not necessary big banner work. My biggest film tilldate Game was the biggest flop and a practically smallerfilm Tanu Weds Manu went on to be such a huge hit. There isno rule for it," she said.Kangana is confident about her latest film Queen, whichrevolves around the life of a girl from Delhi."In the film, I am playing a girl from Delhi's LajpatNagar area. She gets married to her boyfriend but problemscrop up. It is about her journey and how she deals with theissues of life post her break up," Kangana said.
Besides Queen, she has three other films releasing nextyear- Shootout at Wadala, I Love New York and Krrish 3.
"This year I am just working and finishing work. I amreally excited for next year. I have four films releasing andall roles are very different from each other. I am veryspontaneous, so I do not have any specific plan about how Iwill prepare for the releases. I will just go with the flow,"she said.
Kangana, 25, made her dream debut with Anurag Basu'sGangster in 2006.
"My journey has been great. It is a mix of struggle andappreciation. But it is only now that I can say I am enjoyingmy work. Initially, there was lot of struggle but now amgetting the kind of roles that I want to do. I now have asay," Kangana told PTI in an interview.
The actress, who is currently in the Capital to shootdirector Vikas Bahl's Queen, says she never had dearth ofroles but her struggle story had more to do with not gettingdesired roles in films and getting typecast.
"Everybody has different kind of struggle. For some it islack of work but for me it was not getting the right kind offilms. After Gangster I was being typecast, be it Life ina... Metro, Fashion or others.
"So, I actually had to put my foot down and say 'No Iam not going to take more of this'. I almost had to stay outof work sometime to change the course of the image I wasgetting into without wanting it. I always felt that I had muchmore to give than just doing the same edgy, dramatic roles."The National-award-winning actress says there was a timewhen filmmakers did not even consider her for many interestingroles because of her image.
"Whenever a director had a crazy, over-the-top characterin the film, they would approach me. I was not getting anyother role. There were so many interesting films that werebeing made but they would never consider me. So, I made aconscious decision not to play such characters anymore," shesays.
And it worked. Kangana went on to star in films likeOnce Upon a Time in Mumbaai and Tanu Weds Manu in whichher 'quirky-chirpy' act was appreciated by the audience andcritics alike.
During this time Kangana was part of not much noteworthyfilms like Tezz", Rascals and Double Dhamaal amongothers.When asked if she regrets doing such films, she says, "Ido not regret being part of such films in my career so far. Iam not a fussy actor. Sometimes I don't have really excitingoffers, so I do take up such films even if there are 10 actorsin the main cast. It is not necesaay that you always get goodoffers.
"A lot of actors say that if they do not get good offersthey prefer to sit at home, I don't have any such philosophy.I keep doing something or the other. I cannot sit at homewithout work."
Kangana says she is not fussy about working in big bannerfilms and would rather do meaty roles in smaller ones."I don't have a reason to be fussy about big bannerfilms. Because so far whatever films have worked for me arenot from big banners. From my experience I have seen that oneshould do films that make one happy and not just run aftersomething.
"And not necessary big banner work. My biggest film tilldate Game was the biggest flop and a practically smallerfilm Tanu Weds Manu went on to be such a huge hit. There isno rule for it," she said.Kangana is confident about her latest film Queen, whichrevolves around the life of a girl from Delhi."In the film, I am playing a girl from Delhi's LajpatNagar area. She gets married to her boyfriend but problemscrop up. It is about her journey and how she deals with theissues of life post her break up," Kangana said.
Besides Queen, she has three other films releasing nextyear- Shootout at Wadala, I Love New York and Krrish 3.
"This year I am just working and finishing work. I amreally excited for next year. I have four films releasing andall roles are very different from each other. I am veryspontaneous, so I do not have any specific plan about how Iwill prepare for the releases. I will just go with the flow,"she said.
