Kangana Ranaut was not seen in any film last year, but her controversy with Hrithik Roshan kept the actress in the limelight. Now, Ranaut is all set to return on the big screen with multi-starrer 'Rangoon'. In a recent interview with FirstPost.com, she talked about her ugly fight with the 'Kaabil' star and her character in 'Rangoon'.
Rangoon is a very ambitious project for director Vishal Bharadwaj. What are your thoughts on it?
Absolutely. It is a very demanding canvas the way it has been written for last seven years and what has been riding on it in terms of investments and the scale of the film. It revolves around my character, Julia, and so it becomes a lot more demanding for the person who is actually the central character of the film. It took Vishal sir so many years to greenlight this project... The film talks about World War II, there has not been a single film been made on the subject. We don’t care about it, I guess. We'd rather see a goon flirting with a girl [laughs] than talk about World War II. We'd rather see those typical Bollywood masala films... than talk about India’s involvement with World War II. It took the director a lot of time to make this film. It took me a decade to come to a point where I am worthy of roles (like this)... One has to earn scripts like these. You can be the biggest star and yet such scripts may not come your way. For me it was definitely a do-or-die situation.
Your Hunterwali look in the film is pretty interesting. It is also quite raunchy!
Vishal sir’s women have always had that erotic undertone to their demeanour and that is the case with Julia as well. In fact, the context in which the hunter/whip is used [laughs] it is not that we are showing her in an action avatar. I feel her hunter and mask are somehow symbolic of her dark relationship with Saif because he has given her that image, he has given her that persona and there is a very important scene in the film — whenever she is in pain, she whips herself. It has that undercurrent and she is in love with two men. One is a very dark romance and the other one is more Sufi, more setting-herself-free. She has to choose one. It is a beautiful thought and it is a beautiful backdrop to have, and to top it all, this is happening during World War II.
You seem to be just over the huge and ugly battle with Hrithik Roshan. What have the after effects been like? Did you feel any sense of isolation from the industry?
I had intentionally made myself little bit isolated. I was working on Rangoon those days. I was in Arunachal Pradesh where there was no network. Besides, the matter which was supposed to be between two people was out in public but actually no one, no third person could have helped in this matter. Only those two people can give each other closure. And if it is going out-of-hand, nobody can help that situation. So there was no point in involving people in it. Though there were instances when he (Hrithik) was going and crying to the entire industry, wanting them to sabotage my career, and people were calling me and saying — ‘He met us, he has showed us proofs and (do you) want to meet us because we want to know your side of the story as well?’ But I was like, it is none of your business. I was trying to figure things out and felt that it didn’t make sense seeking closure from others. I didn’t have any meetings with anyone, whether with the media or film people regarding that matter. I made sure of that... I think people understood that and gave me my space.