How a small town girl Kangana Ranaut become a Bollywood Queen

Here we are going to share an inspirational success story of Kangana Ranaut, an Indian filmmaker and actor. Read her Entrepreneurial Journey from a from small town girl to Bollywood’s ‘Queen.

Many of you already heard of the success story of Kangana Ranaut. Her road to fame was never easy. Let us read a success story of How a small town girl Kangana Ranaut become a Bollywood Queen. We hope you are going to enjoy the success story.

Who is Kangana Ranaut

Kangana Ranaut is an Indian filmmaker and actor. She works for Hindi films. She is the recipient of many awards, including four filmfare awards and three national film awards.

Kangana has featured six times in Forbs India’s list of 100 celebrities. The government of India honoured her with India’s 4^th highest civilian award Padma Shri in 2020. On 23^rd march 1987, she was born in Bhambla, a small town of Himachal Pradesh.

Initially she was aspired to become a doctor at the insistence of her parents. However, at the age of 16, she relocated to Delhi to build her career path.

There she became a model. There she took a training under Arvind Gaur & made her feature film debut in a thriller Gangster in 2006.

For Gangstar she was awarded the filmfare award for best female debut. In the year 2006, she received praise for Who Lamhe, Life in a Metro in 2007 & Fashion in 2008.

She won the National Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress in Fashion. After thet she feature in many films like Raaz: The Mystry Continues, Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, Tanu Weds Manu Krish 3 etc.

Ranaut won two consecutive National Film Awards for Best Actress for playing a naive woman in the comedy-drama Queen and a dual role in the comedy sequel Tanu Weds Manu: Returns.

That ranked her as the biggest earning female-led in Hindi films. She acted and co-directed the bio-ic Manikarnika: The queen of Jhansi that was not that successful.

The media credited Ranaut as one of the most fashionable celebrities in the country, and she has launched her own clothing lines for the brand Vero Moda.  

Her reputation for expressing her opinions in public has frequently sparked controversy.

Kangana Ranaut was born at Bhambla, a small town in Himachal Pradesh into a Rajput family on 23^rd March 1987.

Her father Amardeep Ranaut is a businessperson & mother Asha Ranaut is a schoolteacher.

He has a younger brother Akshat & an elder sister Rangoli. Rangoli works as her manager from 2014.

Kangna’s great grandfather was a member of the Legislative Assembly and her grandfather was an officer for the Indian Administrative Service.

Her childhood was simple & happy; she grew up in a joint family at their mansion at Bhambla.

She was stubborn & rebellious while growing up. She did not subscribe to the stereotypes.

From a young age, she liked to experiments on fashion. She was educated at the DAV School of Chandigrah.

Science was her core subject there & at that time, she was very studious & always paranoid about results.

Initially she wanted to become doctor on the insistence of parents. When she failed in a unit test in chemistry on twelfth she decided to leave the medical.

At the age of sixteen, to find space and freedom she moved to Delhi. At that time, she was not sure about which career she should choose.

The Elite Modelling Agency suggested her to be a model for them. She took some modelling assignment but she did not get scope for creativity in that field.

Therefore, she decided to focus on acting & joined the Asmita Theatre a group. Arving Gaur trained her there.

She played a male & female role for a theatre workshop of Gaur.

After the positive reaction of audience, she shifted to Mumbai & enrolled for a 4-month acting course in Asha Chandra’s drama school.

At the time struggle, she used to eat bread and aachar (pickle). For several years, her relatives were not happy with her decision to entre film industry.

They were not in touch with Ranaut for several years. After the release of “Life in a … Metro”, she reconciled with them.

Kangana’s  Personal life

As an unprepared actor, her initial years in film industry were very difficult.

She was conscious about her poor English language. Aditya Pancholi & his wife Zarina Wahab supported her during struggle, she consider them as a family away from home.

It was said that she was having affair with Aditya Pancholi. Aditya accused her of owing 2.5 million, in response her spokesperson said that “”after physically assaulting her in the middle of a road, he has no right to expect anything from her “. Ranaut said that because of that she was disturbed physically & mentally.

While starring Raaz: The Mystery Continues, she had a relationship with her co-star Adhyayan Suman. They separated next year for better career.

From 2010 to 2012, she had a long-distance relationship with Nicholas Lafferty, an English doctor.

As she was not ready for marriage, they split amicably. She was not ready to bind in any relationship.

Hritik Roshan, her co-star in Krish 3, filed a lawsuit against her accusing her of cyber stalking and harassment in 2016.

She filed a counter charge against him, claiming that his lawsuit was to cover-up their affair to give benefit of his divorce.

Later on, the case was closed due to lake of evidence. Her sister Rangoli was a victim of Acid attack in 2006.

She is living with Kangana. She follows the tea chings of the spiritual leader Swami Vivekananda and considers meditation to be “the highest form of worshipping God” as a practicing Hindu.

In 2013, she was listed as “India’s hottest vegetarian” in a poll conducted by PETA. Since 2009, she is studying Kathak Dance from Nateshwar Nritya Kala Mandir.

To better her understanding of technical process of filmmaking, Ranaut enrolled in a two-month screenplay-writing course at the New York Film Academy in 2014.

Professional Career in Bollywood

Film debut and critical acclaim
Ranaut interacted with director Anurag Basu & auditioned for the lead role in thriller Gangster.

She was playing the central role of Simran, an alcoholic woman. Gangster released in 2006 her performance was praised.

For Gangster she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut, along with various other debut awards.

In 2006, she acted for Who Lame a semi-biographical film based on the schizophrenic actor Parveen Babi and her relationship with the director Mahesh Bhatt.

Film reviews were positive but the film underperformed at the box office.

Doesn’t need a hero to prop her up

She also portrayed an aspiring musician in a musical thriller Shakalaka Boom Boom, and the film proved to be a box office flop.

She played a role of Neha in the ensemble drama Life in a… Metro, the film emerged as a profitable venture.

For her role in Life in a…Metro, Ranaut was awarded the Stardust Award for Breakthrough Performance – Female.

Then she portrayed a village girl in Dhaam Dhoom. Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion was a landmark in her career.

Fashion emerged as a commercial success and was listed by Subhash K. Jha. For Fashion, she earned several awards including the National Film Award and Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Career fluctuations

She played for Raaz: The Mystery Continues in 2009. The film proved to be a financial success.

She played a leading role in the drama Vaada Raha, and the Telugu action film Ek Niranjan, they were particularly notable.

She played a role of Hritik Roshan’s fiancée in Kites. She felt cheated in that film as she thought that her role was much smaller than what she had initially signed on for.

The she played once Upon a Time in Mumbai. The film was one of the most successful releases of the year; it garnered positive reviews from critics.

After playing a television reporter in the thriller Knock Out, she looked for a comedy.Her first release of 2011 was Anand that was game changer for her.

She had a successful film Tanu Weds Manu, after that she got glamorous role in four more films like Game, Double Dhamal, Rascals and Miley Naa Miley Hum.

From all of these only Double Dhamal performed well. The following year Ranaut portrayed a supporting role in action thriller Tezz, another box office flop.

Established actress

in 2013, she was casted for Shootout at Wadala. Commercially, the film performed well. In later 2013, she achieved success for her role in Krish 3.

The film came out as Ranaut’s most financially profitable venture. Ranaut played the eponymous lead in the musical drama Rajjo during that year. The film was failure.

In 2014, she established herself in Hindi cinema with Queen. For Queen She co- wrote the dialogues with Anvita Dutt Guptan.

The film emerged as a box office hit. She won both the Filmfare Award and the National Film Award for Best Actress for queen. After the success of Queen, she played for Revolver Rani & Ungli.

In 2014, she made her production & directorial debut with an English language short film entitled The Touch.

She co-wrote the screenplay with an Australian writer and filmed it in US. In 2015, she starred in Tanu Weds Manu Returns, a sequel of Tanu Weds Manu.

The film received positive review from critics, as her performance was considered as prime asset.

The film earned over 2.4 billion worldwide and became highest-grossing Bollywood film featuring a female protagonist.

Kangana won a Filmfare Critics Award and a second consecutive National Film Award for Best Actress, and received an additional Best Actress nomination at Filmfare.

In the same year she appeared in the romantic comedies I Love NY & Katti Batti, both were at the box office.

After a yearlong break, she starred in Rangoon in 2017. The film received mix reviews but Kangana’s performance was picked up for praise.

IN the same year, she starred in Simran, a crime comedy. Again, it received mixed review and failed commercially.

In 2019, she starred Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi. That was a biopic of the Indian freedom fighter Rani of Jhansi.

She served as co-director for this film. Manikarnika performed moderately well at the box office.

Again, in 2019, she starred for Judgementall Hai Kya, in which she played a mentally ill woman.

That was not box office hit. She received Filmfare Award nominations for her performances in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi & Judgementall Hai Kya.

In 2020, she began the new decade with the sports film Panga. She played a young mother and homemaker’s role who trains to stage a comeback in kabaddi. Unfortunately, it did not perform well commercially.

In future, she is going to play a role of politician Jayalalithaa in the trilingual biopic Thalaivi and star in the action film Dhaakad.

In the media
Kangana describes by Tisca Chopra as a “free-spirited, original creative” person “who cannot really be slotted in a particular mould”.

She is particularly known for her forthrightness in expressing her opinions in public for any issue.

During a chat show in 2017, she accused Karan Johar for nepotism. Since then she is advocating against nepotism in the industry. 

In 2014, the journalist Pratima Uniyal noted, “she loves to challenge herself with tricky roles and manages to add a different dimension to her character every time.

” Vidya Balan has been credited her for spearheading a movement that breaks stereotypes of a Hindi film heroine by playing the protagonist in films not starring a well-known male star.

After the success of Queen and Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Deccan Chronicle labelled her as “one of the most bankable actresses in the industry”.

Daily News and Analysis reported that she is one of the highest-paid actresses in Bollywood.

Forbes India featured Kangana in their annual Celebrity 100 list in 2012, 2014–2017, and 2019.

In the same year, she was one of two actresses to feature in The Indian Express’s listing of the most powerful Indians.

In India, she is considered as a style icon & sex symbol. , Kangana Ranaut’s defining fashion choices and her unconventional film roles eventually established her as a Bollywood Queen.

She is known as the most attractive and stylish celebrities in India. In 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015, she ranked among top 10 10 on The Times of India’s listing of the “Most Desirable Woman”.

In 2010, she was featured on Verve’s listing of the most powerful women & in 2012; she was named as named the “Best Dressed Personality” by the Indian edition of People magazine.

By Vogue India, she was featured as one of the best-dressed women celebrities in 2013.

She collaborated with the fashion brand Vero Moda to launch clothing lines for the company, named Marquee and Venice Cruise, in 2015 and 2016.

Filmography and accolades

Ranaut is the recipient of three National Film Awards: Best Supporting Actress for Fashion in 2008 and Best Actress for Queen in 2014 and Tanu Weds Manu Returns 2015.

Kangana Ranaut has also won four Filmfare Awards: Best Supporting Actress for Fashion, Best Female Debut for Gangster in 2006, Best Actress – Critics for Tanu Weds Manu Returns, and Best Actress for Queen.

Kangana Ranaut was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, by the Government of India, for her contribution to arts in 2020.

We hope you find the motivational success story of Kangana Ranaut – Bollywood Queen inspiring through your entrepreneurial journey and will keep you inspired.

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