Why Bollywood’s Kangana Ranaut is still the ‘Queen’

Love her or hate her, one thing she definitely won’t allow you to do is to ignore her. Kangana Ranaut, who marks 15 years in Bollywood, has gone from small-town girl to a star. Here’s a look at some lesser known facts about the actor.

Ranaut began to soar in Bollywood at the age of 22 when she won the Indian National Awards for ‘Fashion’. Now, at 34, she has four such awards, including the 'Best Actor (female)' title for her movies 'Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi' and 'Panga'. She’s made history as the third actress in Indian cinema to win two back-to-back Best Actress National Awards. Shabana Azmi and Archana are the other two legends.

Did you know, Ranaut wanted to work in the medical field before she got into Bollywood. But then the showbiz bug bit and there was no turning back. The journey wasn’t an easy one however; when she told her father, they told her to get out of the house and she did. She’s lived a rough life for some time and it took years before the two would resolve their differences.

Ranaut loves her food. But she’s also got her eye on fitness. This is evident if you check out her Instagram feed of last year – it’s full of posts of food and her exercising. She also loves to cook.

Ranaut is a vegetarian. In fact, she was named “India’s hottest vegetarian” by PETA in 2013.

Most of Ranaut’s movies – think ‘Queen’ or ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi' – are female centric. Perhaps this is a conscious choice, after all, she believes in women empowerment. Marriage is not the be all and end all life – one must work on themselves, for livelihood and for identity, she says.

Ranaut’s big break – her stint in Director Anurg Basu’s ‘Gangster’ – came thanks to a coffee break. She was reportedly in a café in 2005 when he spotted her.

Ranaut’s first directorial venture is ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’. But she’s played multiple roles in other movies too; for instance, she wrote some dialogues in ‘Queen’.

This actor doesn’t really like to watch movies. Ranaut claims to have watched only 10 so far. Instead, she loves reading books.

Talk about money – Ranaut has featured six times in Forbes India’s Celebrity 100 list.

She never shied away from controversy. From calling out bullies to self-aggrandising posts, Ranaut’s posts can be a lot to swallow. From sparring with top politician Uddhav Thackeray to supporting imprisoned actress Rhea Chakraborty and rowing with filmmaker Karan Johar and superstar Hrithik Roshan, Ranaut seems to always make headlines.

Last year, she took on many heavyweights including Mumbai's Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, who tore down her office in Mumbai, and Bollywood stars whom she accused of promoting drug culture and nepotism, two things she blamed for Sushant Singh Rajput’s death.

Ranaut has often threatened to quit Twitter because of the restrictions she’s faced on her accounts; her sister Rangoli Chandel's account remains permanently suspended for promoting hate speech.