Kangana’s Interview With Arnab & Other Updates
![Kangana’s Interview With Arnab & Other Updates](https://theopinionatedindian.com/static/c1e/client/86164/migrated/2656d84db073e42c6e8bca8261d1c665.jpg)
Kangana gave an explosive interview to Arnab yesterday. R.Balki, Maanvi Gagroo, Apurva Israni, Shekhar Kapur too made the news for their views on nepotism in Bollywood.
Our readers know our thoughts about the whole Kangana-nepotism debate. We would not like to bore them by repeating the same points. For our new readers, we would request you read our previous article on Kangana in light of SSR’s death before proceeding(click here to read the article)
But there were some new points which Kangana mentioned which probably have created questions in the minds of the people. Here are our thoughts on those topics
Drive
One of the biggest accusations made by Kangana was that Karan Johar deliberately did not release Drive. Kangana accuses Karan Johar of doing it at the behest of Aditya Chopra. If Kangana is to be believed then Karan Johar lost out on the opportunity to make hundreds of crores just to pull someone down.
While such statements may fool the public who are not well versed with the business of showbiz, we can confidently say that this accusation lack any merit.
Karan Johar signed on SSR for ‘Drive’, because he was hot property after M.S Dhoni. He thought that SSR has it in him to shoulder a movie & in turn make several crores for him – the producer. The project was to be helmed by Tarun Mansukhani – whose previous film ‘Dostana’ was a big hit. It was his first film in many years. SSR, KJo, Tarun, Jacqueline were all kicked about the project.
But it like it happens with many movies, a movie which looks good on paper does not turn out well during the execution phase. It was then that Karan Johar decided to not release the movie in theatres, as he would have to spend 15cr-20cr on promoting the movie. He wanted to cut his losses. He then shrewdly struck a deal with Netflix.
As expected the movie received horrible reviews post its release on Netflix. Anybody & everybody who saw the movie panned it. The movie was badly trolled on social media(click here to read how HT covered the aftermath of the movie’s release).
Kangana made no mention of why ‘Dil Bechara’ is getting released on another streaming platform. ‘Dil Bechara’ is a movie produced by Fox Star Studios & directed by Mukesh Chhabra – Sushant friend & mentor. If we assume that Karan Johar released Drive to destroy SSR, shouldn’t Fox Star Studios & Mukesh Chhabra be judged by the same yardstick? Why single out Karan Johar?
Anybody who has read Karan Johar’s biography – An Unsuitable Boy, will tell you that he has not been on great terms with Aditya Chopra for the past several years.
Aditya Chopra
Kangana narrated to Arnab, as to how Aditya Chopra told her that “she is finished” after she refused ‘Sultan’ opposite Salman Khan. Kangana went on to say that she had every right to say no to a movie opposite a Khan, after starring in a blockbuster. Luckily for Kangana, Aditya Chopra is a shy personality who will never publicly give an interview & give his side of the story. One must take into account that Kangana has become an arrogant, air-headed megalomaniac after the success of Queen, Tanu Weds Manu, Tanu Weds Manu Returns, etc. One can’t negate the possibility she too must have given a lot of attitude to Aditya Chopra to get such a response from him. Labeling Aditya Chopra as guilty without hearing his side of the story would be incorrect.
Context too is important here. Kevin O’Leary a judge on the popular show – Shark Tank regularly uses the phrase ‘ you are dead to me’ if the contestant refuses his deal or he doesn’t like the contestant’s idea. Imagine if one of the contestants commits suicide after suffering from depression, should Kevin be held guilty? doesn’t an Aditya Chopra have the right to decide who gets to act in his movies produced by his own company? One should not forget that Kangana sacked both the director – Krrish & an outsider actor – Sonu Sood in her movie ‘ Manikarnika’.
Alia Bhatt
For some reason, Alia Bhatt is the one at the receiving end of Kangana’s barbs all the time, even though Alia personally has never spoken against Kangana publicly. While Kangana has every right to give her opinion as to who deserved an award, her calling Alia Bhatt – who is several years her junior a mediocre actor smacks of indecency. it is one of the biggest signs of her being a megalomaniac.
It reminds me of the time an arrogant friend was upset with our Arts teacher in our school for giving his painting a B, while she gave another student an A. My friend fought with he the teacher as to how she could give a mediocre painting an A grade, which his brilliant painting a B grade! We were barely 8 years old. While some people grow up, looks like some people never will.
Our award shows are indeed a joke. But Kangana has a habit of questioning the credibility of any award show which doesn’t give her the award. She had no shame in saying that there will be questions about the national awards if she is not given an award for Manikarnika!(click here to read).
Truth is that Manikarnika was indeed an average grosser, while Gully Boy went on to become the 8th highest-grossing film. The best movie last year if you ask us, was neither Gully Boy nor Manikarnika. It was ‘Tumbbad’- a brilliantly made movie which flopped in the theatres as it had no stars in it! It really did hurt to see Gully Boy as India’s Oscar nomination instead of Tumbbad. Our award shows truly lack credibility & people should stop watching them if they want real change.
Kangana’s Motive
It looks like Kangana wants to hit several birds with one stone. She sees an opportunity in SSR’s suicide to get back at Aditya Chopra, Karan Johar, Salman Khan, Mahesh Bhatt, etc. How dare Alia Bhatt get an award when she was so good in Manikarnika! She saw an opportunity to use the nepotism debate to pull Alia down as well.
Kangana is just like any other megalomaniac lady CM our country has seen. Anybody who opposes them has to be silenced. Anybody who dares to make fun of them is jailed/beaten up.
But by taking on the big guns of Bollywood, Kangana has won the admiration of the masses. Many of our friends too are fans & disagree with us when we place cold hard facts. They seem to forget that Kangana herself has never done anything for the sake of outsiders in Bollywood, apart from raising her voice. Any word against Kangana & we are promptly labeled as paid PR of Dharma/YRF. Sadly none of her fans make any credible points to make us change our opinion about her.
While Kangana does deserve praise for raising her voice & giving the big bosses a reality check, she is just as guilty as them when it comes to being arrogant, egoistic, self-centered, dictatorial, etc. It will be interesting what employees of her own studio will have to say after working with her.
One should not forget that we too are Aditya Chopras/ Ambanis/Johars, for our housemaids, watchmen, drivers, etc. They would be more than happy with the wealth that we have. Imagine if you sack one of them for their attitude/lack of professionalism, give a bad review when a friend asks about them as you genuinely had a bad experience. The housemaid/driver/watchman in question has personal issues as well. But when he/she commits suicide, only you are blamed. Nobody even bothers to find out as to what is the true cause, they just want you to be put behind bars. Is this fair? Should people not wait for the police investigation to get over before accusing you of the crime?
Karan Johar Deserves It At Some Level
We have mentioned earlier as to how Karan Johar was playing with fire when it came to his show – Koffee With Karan. It is a toxic show where he invited star kids without a single movie to their credit! While outsiders who had several praiseworthy performances were never invited. He saw several actors, cricketers getting trolled for their comments on his show (Hardik Pandya comes to mind), but never bothered to change the format of his show. He made money while other celebs were in misery.
He in fact was deciding on the guestlist for the next season of his show before the SSR fiasco happened.
It was only a matter of time before he himself was at the receiving end of public anger. Now while he is getting attacked from all sides, his friends are looking the other way. Nobody has bothered to come out in his support. Karma is a b&*ch Karan!
Nepotism
The leaders who accused the first political family of the country of nepotism themselves have installed their kids as party heads of their political parties. Nepotism is no longer an issue in these parties anymore. The ruling party too has several second-generation leaders in them. While we don’t support any political party, one must admit that all parties have indulged in nepotism at some level.
Nepotism is actually a non-issue. It has always been there & it will continue to be there(click here to read boxofficeindia’s take on the issue)
But R.Balki’s statement has re-ignited the nepotism debate. It was foolish of him to say that there are no better actors than Ranbir & Alia in the industry. Apruva Israni & Shekhar Kapur countered by listing out several actors who are better than Ranbir-Alia.
Manoj Bajpayee, Rajkummar Rao, Vicky Kaushal, Ayushmann, Kangana Ranaut, Priyanka Chopra, Taapsee Pannu, Vidya Balan, Richa Chaddha. Many others too if we look beyond A list film families, and take a few chances. I love Ranbir & Alia, but please, they aren't the only good actors. https://t.co/G8ddYv8LVc
— Apurva (@Apurvasrani) July 17, 2020
Apurva named great actors. But apart from Kangana, Vidya, Ayushmann – whose box office prowess is a direct threat to Ranbir-Alia, we see no merit in the rest. Kangana is a senior star who has delivered several hits by herself but hasn’t had a hit in 5 years. Vidya is a hugely talented actress but most of her movies in the past few years have been flops barring Tumhari Sulu & Mission Mangal. But Mission Mangal also had Akshay Kumar in a pivotal role. Taapsee Pannu too was part of that project.
Alia Bhatt has three hits in which she walked away with the credit for the movie’s success – Highway, Dear Zindagi & Raazi. Dear Zindagi had SRK, but nobody thinks that the movie succeeded because of him – his was only a guest appearance. She has been loved in her other hits as well. She is now going through a rough patch after Kalank flopped.
Maanvi Gagroo to joined the debate & asked R.Balki as to “where should one apply”. Maanvi looks pretty, acts well. But her role in Ujda Chaman definitely has not won her any die-hard fans. A movie starring her is unlikely to open as well as Alia Bhatt.
Vicky may be a better actor than Ranbir, but how many 100cr hits has he given? Taapsee Pannu hasn’t starred in a single big hit, which she can take sole credit for. Badla & Pink both had Amitabh Bachchan in them. RKR has only one 100cr hit – Stree. It is only Ayushmann from the list who can take on & probably beat Ranbir. Although, we would bet on Ranveer to be the biggest star in the near future.
Frankly, R.Balki should have just kept away from this debate instead of making such a foolish comment. Ranbir & Alia are definitely not the undisputed superstars of their generation.
While haters vow to boycott all movies starring star kids, especially those produced by YRF/Dharma, the fact is that most of the people don’t really care. Aditya Chopra’s Dhoom4 is the top trend on Twitter today!
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