Shabana Azmi feels that perhaps Kangana Ranaut worries about fading into oblivion and therefore, makes ‘outrageous statements to stay in the news’. Shabana also advised Kangana to ‘just do what she is best at’ – acting.
Kangana has been drawing attention to the supposed ills of the film industry, from the practice of nepotism and functioning like a ‘mafia’ to its alleged rampant drug use. In the past, she has referred to Bollywood as a ‘gutter’, which drew a sharp response from many of her industry colleagues including Jaya Bachchan.
In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Shabana responded to Kangana’s statement that the film industry must be ‘saved from various terrorists’, including the ‘drug mafia’ and those who exploit talent. Shabana said that Kangana makes sensational statements to feature in the headlines and urged her to focus her energies into acting.
“Kangana has started believing in her own myth. She says she taught feminism to the film industry, she taught it nationalism. I’m glad she spelled that out because nobody else had noticed! I think she fears the day when she will no longer be in the headlines and so has to keep making outrageous statements to stay in the news. Poor girl, why doesn’t she just do what she is best at, which is acting,” she said.
Shabana said that the film industry has its issues but it was unfair to paint the entire industry with the same brush. “There are many socially committed outspoken people too, does the entire industry get bathed in a halo because of them?,” she questioned. She also said that the industry is a ‘sitting duck’ and levelling malicious allegations against it is a part of a ‘systematic campaign to divert attention from real issues’.
In the past, Kangana has called Shabana an ‘anti-national’ as well as levelled allegations against her husband, Javed Akhtar. Kangana’s sister and manager Rangoli Chandel earlier claimed that Javed called Kangana home and ‘intimidated’ and ‘threatened’ her to apologise to Hrithik Roshan.
