Is Kangana Ranaut  still in her ‘Manikarnika’ mode?

Two women have lately been hogging all the limelight – but for all the wrong reasons. One is Rhea Chakraborty – who needs no introduction (unless you are living under a rock!). And another is none other than our very own ‘Jhansi ki Rani’ aka Kangana Ranaut.

Ranaut has been on a rampage of explosive revelations lately — from Bollywood’s drug cartel to sexual predators in the showbiz, but her love for such ‘revelations’ is not new. When it all started in 2016 – the first time she opened up about her messy love affair with Hrithik Roshan, I was awestruck by her courage. No Bollywood actor ever dared to speak up about something as personal as this. Though, it did appear she was bitter from an ‘affair gone wrong’, but I applauded her boldness.

Cut to: 2017. Ranaut spoke about nepotism on ‘Koffee with Karan’ and yet again I was moved by such a bold stance! An outsider, who fought her way to the top – was brave enough to call out the so-called movie mafia and gangism prevalent in the film industry. She was hailed for such an act of courage! And rightly so.

But then came 2020, and Ranaut — who was known for standing up for such crucial issues — seems like she wants to settle her own personal scores. And all this began when she started demanding “justice” for the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput.

From Aditya Chopra to Mahesh Bhatt – no one was spared. She even alleged that the “suicide gang” (mentioning  the Bhatts, Javed Akhar and others) must have been the cause behind Sushant’s suicide. But soon after when Sushant’s “murder” angle came into being, she pushed aside her “suicide” theories and allegations, and focused on B-town’s “drug cartel.” And here again, she dragged her ex! She hinted towards her ex Hrithik of being a drug addict. And this was just the beginning.

Till this point, I was all ears. But soon, whatever she said started sounding more like abuses and attacks being hurled towards her fellow actors or just about anyone. From calling  Tapsee Pannu and Swara Bhaskar “B-grade actors”, to terming Sonam Kapoor as “mafia bimbo”; from alleging Deepika of encashing her depression to accusing Vicky Kaushal, Ranveer Singh, Ranbir Kapoor and Ayan Mukherjee to undergo a drug test — she spared  none.

But hell breaks loose when she calls Urmila Matondkar a “soft porn star”. A veteran actor like Matondkar who has earned a name for herself, and has given some great performances – was thrashed on a national television and how. Even if it was to give her a “befitting” reply – it just did not get down well.

She not only insulted a senior actor, but also those women who work in the porn industry. This shows, Ranaut – a self-proclaimed feminist – doesn’t shy away from assassinating women’s character in public platforms. Previously, she had used words like “small time druggie” and “gold digger” for Rhea Chakraborty. And this, in itself, explains a lot!

To retaliate Jaya Bachchan’s “gutter” remark, she even went ahead and said: “Jaya ji would you say the same thing if in my place it was your daughter Shweta beaten, drugged and molested as a teenager, would you say the same thing if Abhishek complained about bullying and harassment constantly and found hanging one day? Show compassion for us also (sic)”.

Her recent feud with Anurag Kashyap also grabbed limelights. After the filmmaker sarcastically calls her “eklauti Manikarnika” (the one and only Manikarnika), telling her to fight with China, she retaliates by calling him “mandbuddhi” (stupid). After sexual harassment allegations were labelled against Kashyap by an actor, she even tweeted saying that he is “capable” of this – and yet again, she shares her own experience to back this claim.

And to my very surprise, celebs and politicians are not the only ones who she verbally abuses. Recently, she called a journalist “chauvinist sissy” and “eunuch” on Twitter. And her feed is filled with such abuses – being hurled at anyone and everyone who doesn’t agree with her.

Ranaut’s most recent film was “Manikarnika” – where she portrayed the role of a valiant warrior queen – Jhansi. But it looks like she hasn’t yet completely come out of that character. But what is she fighting against — nepotism or movie mafia or the drug cartel in Bollywood or sexual predators? Or, is she just out to settle her personal scores? Or is she just a pawn of some higher power? One can never know, or maybe they do!

But what I know is she has her boxing gloves on! As she herself tweeted recently, “I may come across as a very ladaku person but it’s not true, I have a record of never starting a fight, I will quit twitter if anyone can prove otherwise, I never start a fight but I finish every fight. Lord Krishna said when someone asks you to fight you mustn’t deny them.”