When Kangana Ranaut speaks, the whole world listens. She is eloquent and does not shy away from speaking her mind, even if it does not go down well with some of the tinsel town’s bigwigs. Few months ago, filmmaker Karan Johar was at the receiving end of Kangana’s vitriolic barbs, who accused him of being a ‘flagbearer of nepotism’ and a ‘movie mafia’. The actress recently shot an open letter to Saif Ali Khan, in response to his statement clarifying the ‘Nepotism Rocks’ jibe he took at her during the IIFA 2017 Awards.
“You have been the driving force in my life. If it wasn’t for all the rejections, mocking and all. You made fun of my English on this couch and made fun of everything. I am not complaining about it and just saying. But Karan, somewhere these things drive you,” the 30-year-old actress told a visibly defensive Johar on KWK.
Kangana did have problems speaking in English when she entered the industry. However, she was always as fiery as she is now. The three-time national award winning actress is known for giving a miss to award functions . But that was not always the case. She bagged the best debutante actress award at all major award functions in 2007 for Gangster. And she did go ahead and collect it. She also spoke about how happy she was and how blessed she was to have been appreciated by the industry. She was just 20-year-old then. Her sincere speech does touch a chord with every small town girl, who ever dreamed of making it big. Watch it here.
Kangana delivered her speech in Hindi, and what an amazing speech it was. Crisp and to the point. The fact that she was discrimination for speaking in Hindi or rather not being fluent in English speaks volume of our colonial mindset. The speech does make us question why do our actors not speak more often in Hindi while giving interviews or accepting awards. After all our movies are made in that language.
In an interview to PTI, the three-times National Award winning actress had revealed how people tried to shame her for not knowing English.
Kangana Ranaut revealed how she was mocked in the early days of her career
Ideally, the foremost requirement for any actor/actress to act in a Hindi film should be the ability to communicate in the language. Over the time, A-listers like Katrina Kaif have been vehemently criticised for their inability to be well versed in the vernacular language. But here is an actress who hails from a Hindi background and can act. One really doesn’t quite understand what was the problem in accepting a perfectly enthusiastic, talented Hindi speaking girl, at the very first place. It’s a different story that Kangana mastered the language and articulates her thoughts so well in it.
How ironical is it that the same industry churning out a film like English Vinglish or Hindi medium on language divide is accused of ill-treating a newbie for not being able to find feet in the elite circles! Stand-up comedian Kapil Sharman on KWK had told Karan Johar that people take pride in saying they don’t know Hindi but the reverse is not applicable for English. Bollywood is not alone in discriminating against people who can’t speak in English.
Unlike countries like China, Japan, France and other countries where English is not the native language, we are still unable to get out of the colonial mindset. Meritorious students often don’t get jobs because of their ‘poor’ communication skills (read English).
One wonders if Hindi film industry will ever give Hindi the respect it deserves. The least they can do is to give their acceptance award n the language.
Also read: Nawazuddin Siddiqui finally clarifies on his tweet about facing racism in Bollywood
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