Kangana Ranaut

Shabnam Mahmood: Hi, everyone. I'm Shabnam Mahmood from BBC News, and I'm here with Kangana Ranaut, one of the biggest stars in India today. She shot to fame in 2006 with her debut film Gangster, and in less than a decade, she's established herself as one of the leading actresses in Bollywood. Her choice of roles has redefined the stereotypical Indian film heroine.

Let's welcome Kangana. Kangana Ranaut: Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you Shabnam. Shabnam Mahmood: First of all, Kangana, I'd like to take you back to your childhood.

Tell me about your story. What were your expectations growing up as a young girl, in your family, in your village? Kangana Ranaut: Well, the thing is, in India, it's a matter of fact that a girl child is seen as a liability, and probably the only expectation is that, you grow up to, you know, be a presentable young woman who can get a decent spouse.

That's not much of an expectation, but yeah. Shabnam Mahmood: So what were you like as a child? Kangana Ranaut: Oh, pain, I'd say.

I wasn't a child that, an Indian parent would like to have. I was quite rebellious, and I'd, I didn't see myself as, I guess my family saw. I didn't see myself as a liability.

I didn't see myself, as someone who is, you know, just, whose purpose of life is just to find a good enough husband who can take care of her. I saw myself as much more than that. Shabnam Mahmood: You said rebellious. What kind of things did you do as a child?

Kangana Ranaut: I think I was quite confident of myself and I had a mind of my own. I liked the fact that my father had a lot of expectations from my brother, and I wanted to, I probably wanted to be that person who he could be proud of and who could, you know, who could be her own hero.

So yeah, that led to, many incidences, including, my running away from my house, I guess. Shabnam Mahmood: Before we come to that, just wanted to ask you a little bit more about your family. Was it a very traditional family?

Was there a lot of, you know, the male members of your Mm-hmm. Were they treated with favoritism? Kangana Ranaut: Yes. I won't say it was an exceptional Indian family.

That is pretty much how it is everywhere, where, you know, you grow up in a very protective environment, which can sometime lead to a little bit of suffocation as also. You know, it can just, be a little too protective sometimes. Shabnam Mahmood: Were your family sort of like they had favoritism towards your brother?

Kangana Ranaut: Yeah. Like I said, in India, you know, woman is, a girl child is seen as a liability, so naturally it, they did, they aren't, a girl child isn't that celebrated, for sure. Shabnam Mahmood: So what eventually pushed you to leaving home?

Kangana Ranaut: Like I said, that quest, that understanding of your own self, that confidence that you carry in yourself that, you know, you're a lot more than people think you are, and you want to, you want to prove that, and you want to find yourself and you want to, you know, be a lot more than you're believed that, you know, you are. So I probably that quest.

Shabnam Mahmood: It can't have been easy, though. Kangana Ranaut: Yes. I've struggled for 10 years. Yeah, that's, that's quite long.

Shabnam Mahmood: What was the opposition like, then, when you made that decision to leave home? Kangana Ranaut: Well, my parents gave me an easy option, that if you are gonna, you know, go your way, so there's the highway and you can probably expect no funds and no support, which I think was, legitimate 'cause, you know, I think that was a fair option. Shabnam Mahmood: What's the one particular incident that led to you leaving home?

You know, your father was quite angry with you. Kangana Ranaut: Yes. I think I left. I just refused to go to school, and I'm like, "I can't do science.

I probably, I don't want to be a doctor." And he's like, "Then what would you be?" And I'm like, "I don't know."

So he's like, "Don't you think you should?" I said, "Give me a year, and I would find out." And he's like, "I have no money to spend on these sort of hobbies of yours."

And I'm like, "Sounds fair." Shabnam Mahmood: So you left Yeah. And you went to a big city like Mumbai.

Mm-hmm. What was that like when you first arrived there? Kangana Ranaut: No fairy dream or story, nothing like that. It was quite harsh.

And you know, I was nothing like I am today. I couldn't speak a word of English, and in England, people might be understanding of that, but in Bombay, they're not very forgiving if you don't, speak English. How do you expect to work in Hindi films?

Well, that was an obstacle, I'd say. Shabnam Mahmood: You overcame that obstacle, but you overcame many obstacles because it wasn't easy to establish yourself. What did you want to do the minute that you arrived in Mumbai?

Did you think, "I want to be an actress," or did you have to go through various stages like, you know, modeling? Kangana Ranaut: Oh, yes, various stages, various auditions. I ended up sleeping on the pavements, and I didn't have food to eat.

And my father would call. He's like, "So did you learn your lesson?" I'm like, "No, you better get ready to learn yours."

So it took way too long, and I think for him to learn his lesson, 10 years, he was like, "Okay, fine." but I think I finally I point clear.

But yes, it was just one of those, ordinary struggling stories where you're, you know, the string of incidences or accidents, you know, one after the other, where one worse than the other, and then you're like, you know, am I in a bad dream or it's just, you know, so, yeah. Shabnam Mahmood: You're known for being very honest and very outspoken to the media.

You're a great role model for the modern, independent Indian woman who goes against the traditional norms. How important is that for you? Kangana Ranaut: Well, honestly, I truly don't know how to be any other way.

I mean, I'm, I I find a lot of pride in being who I am, and that was the case from my childhood. Like my, like I said, my parents saw me as someone else. They saw me as someone who was a liability, but that didn't change my understanding of my abilities and myself.

And when I came to Mumbai, they saw me as this village woman who had a weird accent and weirder appearance, I guess. But I didn't see myself like that. I thought of myself a lot more than just.

I am a lot more than my appearance or my age or my color or my hair. And that is how I saw myself, and it'll never change, and why would I want to hide that? I let that be there.

You know, for people, sometime they find it too much, so sometime they like it. I mean, that's just the way I am. Shabnam Mahmood: What are expectations for girls now compared to when you were growing up?

And that wasn't a very long time ago, was it? Kangana Ranaut: Mmm, I think, times have changed a little bit, not much. This generation isn't as bad as our generation, you know, when I was growing up.

But I'd say in India, we have a lot of work to do, and we need a lot more, role models which young women can follow and parents can follow, where they have people they would like to, you know, get inspired with their stories and their journeys.

But definitely with literacy rate going higher, with the women actively participating in the progress of the nation, working and stepping out of the houses, things have changed, and there's a lot of confidence, that has come in. But we're still nowhere close to the developed nations, for sure. Shabnam Mahmood: So things have changed a little bit.

Do you think the focus is shifting away from marriage, say? And are girls able to focus on careers? Kangana Ranaut: I wouldn't say that.

I'm, I mean, being in my place, who's a successful actress and you know, and in a, working in a, in an urban India, whatever you might, may call it, where I'm taken, my job and at my workplace is just taken as a hobby, you know? I come across people who, like, "What do you need money for?" And I'm like, "Why are you making a movie?"

So so I can see the challenges which rest of the women must be going through, you know? And I know of my friends who are married, and every time they get married, their husband's job is the priority, you know? So sometimes they have to even quit their jobs, just because they have to prioritize, their husband's, work situations and maybe problems.

Shabnam Mahmood: Do you think it's particularly worse in your industry because there is this perception that, in the Bollywood film industry, women are taken for their looks rather than talent? Kangana Ranaut: Well, yeah. I wouldn't want to admit it, but it, I'll get bashed there. You know, she went there and she said that.

But it is true that do, they do, objectify women. Bollywood films do objectify women, and not all of them, some of them at least. Shabnam Mahmood: Sexism and misogyny against women, is an issue that all patriarchal societies have to deal with.

Yes. And this is particularly close to you because it was reported that your sister was the victim of an acid attack. Right. What can be done to combat this widespread gender crime? Kangana Ranaut: I don't know.

I think I can just go on about it, but we we first of all, as society, as people, and it, why to single out India? That is the problem everywhere, where, you know, feminine, as an emotion, feminine as a quality, it could be kindness, compassion, is seen as a weakness, where it is not. You know, just not women.

It is just not, restricted to women, even to children, to men who are, who tend to display these emotions. They are seen as, weaker beings, you know? And that is not the fact.

We need to change that mentality. We need to respect, the feminine as an emotion and not try and suppress and crush it, but to love and to value it. And the history is a witness that in the past, if anything that could conquer, the darkest and the deepest corners of a human soul, that has been feminine.

It has been compassion, love, and that is the only way to penetrate the darkness, light, not anger or you know, one of your, very aggressive emotions. So the tendency of human beings to see feminine as a, as a weaker emotion, that is what has to be changed. So when you see a beautiful woman and you can't acquire her, you want to destroy her.

You know? So that needs to, that needs to be changed. And like I said, it's just not about, it's not a, just a women problem. It is a problem of the world.

Shabnam Mahmood: Can Bollywood help in that? Kangana Ranaut: Yes. I think cinema is a beautiful medium. It reaches out to millions of people.

And through films, we can, we can give ideas out there. We can give, we can You know, implant ideas in people's brains or mindsets which can, grow into significant things, you know, and which can bring about significant changes.

Shabnam Mahmood: Because of what you've been through and you've stood up for yourself, what are your thoughts about what happened to Jyoti Singh, the 23-year-old medical student who was raped and killed on a bus in Delhi? Kangana Ranaut: Well, the thing is, a lot has been spoken about that, and a criminal is a criminal. A criminal doesn't have a religion or a nationality, do they?

They don't, they're not even humans. They're not even entitled to be humans. So if you see, you know, their tendencies, they probably would fit in animal kingdom, and animals don't have religions.

So, why to see, be criminals as, people who belong to a certain, you know, race or creed or religion? No, they don't they're not even humans. So there should be strict laws for animals like that, and they should be behind the bars and not left in the open like that to damage, humans, I guess.

Shabnam Mahmood: That particular case received a lot of attention around the world. Do you think things have changed for women? Things have changed for women.

Have things changed for women since then? Is it safer for women to go out there? Kangana Ranaut: How do you guarantee that, you know, how can you guarantee something like that?

I mean, I wouldn't say, that anyone can guarantee that sort of, Though I would love to live in a perfect world like that, but we can only, we can only hope and try, and our sincere endeavors could hopefully lead us there.

But it would be absolutely wrong if we tell our children that, "Okay, now we think it's. You know, completely a crime-proof world that we are a part of, and now go out and do what you like." I don't think that's achievable. I probably, in my little understanding of the matters, I think that's, that's a little impractical to hope, yeah.

Shabnam Mahmood: But there are a lot of women in India that are reluctant to report crimes like that. Kangana Ranaut: Yeah. That is the, I think that is a, that is very, that is the sad part, that as a woman you feel responsible and you're held responsible for an incidence like that. And again, that comes from the fact that you your birth as a girl child is not celebrated.

If it's not a tragedy to a family, it's definitely a setback. So when you start from a point like that, it's very hard to find pride in your own self, confidence in your own being and in your own actions. So probably everything that you do is wrong.

So even if you get teased or you get, molested, it's probably was your, fault and you were wrong. So I think that mentality has to change just so that these people can report and they can identify the animals we just spoke about because they roam around everyone, everywhere. And it's not just in, you know, not in every class.

The crimes happen in all classes, you know. Shabnam Mahmood: Coming back to Bollywood, what is the future for female actresses? Are they going to be taken seriously?

Kangana Ranaut: They're going to be taken seriously. Well, I don't think we need anyone's approval about, you know, what we do as actresses. I feel it's a lot more important for women to accept themselves as opposed to others accepting them.

You can't be hoping to get others' approval on what you do. When I work in a film, I'm not seeking anyone's approval, you know? So because they always start as, "Mm-hmm," and I'm like, "Yeah, it's as good as great."

And they're like, "Yeah, it is good." So you got to be confident of who you are, you know? And you can't really always.

'Cause others opinion of you will always shift. Their perspective will keep changing. Like I said, when I started out, they dismissed me like a nobody.

And you know, today I am who I am because my understanding of myself never changed. So as women, we don't have to hope that we get our due. We need to get up and get it ourselves.

Shabnam Mahmood: Thank you. And finally, Kangana, what else is in store for you beyond acting? Kangana Ranaut: I have a couple of projects coming up. I'm starting a period drama called Rangoon, which is based in World War II.

So I'm gonna start filming for that, and then there are some biopics and regular film stuff. I love being here, though. Love being here. Thank you so much.

This is something so unusual for me. Thank you.