AAP APNI SACCHI KAHAANI BATAANE WAALI THI , KYA HUVA KANGANAJI... BY ALI EPTER JOHN

Dear Kangana,

I am not an astrologer. I have not seen your palm (you never gave me the opportunity even though I would certainly not mind, in fact, I would be very pleased to see the beautiful palm of a beautiful woman like you)

I am not a Tarot card reader, but all that I have been reading about you ever since you came down the mountains and fortunately for me, after living in different places you decided to take up a P.G one bedroom flat in a building called Jubilee Mansion which was very close to where I had been living for more than forty years observing the sea change coming over the place which was a village called Versova once and one of the major changes I observed was how some small time and gradually big time stars from Bollywood (O, how I hate the word, why can't it just be the Hindi film industry?)

I had seen many newcomers coming here and then taking rapid strides towards fame, fortune and their ultimate goal, stardom. I don't want to go into the names of the stars I have observed as I know that there are some who don't like to be reminded of their dark and dreary pasts when they should actually be proud.

But I know, my observation which is my strength tells me that you will not be embarassed by the struggle and the harassment and humilation you faced in your initial days in Mumbai. I am an ardent admirer of Kangana Ranaut, the unusual and unique star she is today....

I have been a witness to how that handsome actor who had his own motives to try and seem like being your mentor and guide, but was only helping you to reach a place called nowhere.

I used to talk to the police officers of the D.N Nagar and Versova Police Station about the FIRs you had filed against the actor and how they told me that you were a very courageous girl to take on the actor who had very strong connections with the underworld and the builders'lobby.

Your courage made you come out as a conqueror who had many more conquests to make in this city which can pave one's way with roses or block every road with thistles and thorns.

You managed to make your talent recognised in all the early films you did but did not get the recognition you so richly deserved, but you carried on your one-woman crusade to prove that a lonely girl without any influence, contacts in high places or relatives, near or distant and you made a distinct mark with your so true-to life performance in Madhur Bhandarkar's ‘Fashion'.

I have never claimed to be a learned critic or a film pundit or a filmy acharya, but it was after seeing your performance in ‘Fashion'that I was willing to take up any bet to let people who know, o know that you were well on the way to the top in your own way.

My betting based on your talent alone proved to be right because of your brilliant showing of what talent could do even in the face of the most severe odds. Films like ‘Queen'and ‘Tanu Weds Manu' sequels proved that you were a queen in the making. You were so invincible that some duds didn't let you slip, stagger or fall even though you had by now created enough rivals and enemies for yourself.

It was at this time that you took on the ‘maharaja's'and ‘rajas'of the industry by their horns and spoke your heart out against all the ailments they and the industry was suffering from, nepotism being the most serious ailment and once again there was a crowd of your ‘well-wishers'who saw your future in a well of no return......

But the more they tried to run you down, the more courageous you grew and to make them know your worth, you started work on ‘Mankarnika-The Queen of Jhansi'which was like your do or die film.

It was a subject the biggest competitors didn't want to or didn't dare to touch. You created one controversy after another during the making of the film, like replacing the original director and taking on the reins yourself, Sonu Sood leaving the film for reasons of his own, even though many experts said he didn't want to work with a woman who was directing a difficult film for the first time.

Your faced every battle like the Jhansi Ki Rani would have fought if she was the director of a film like ‘Mankarnika'.

You continued with your speciality in creating controversies when you were incited by men and women in the industry who refused to support you and some ‘great'names even refused to accept your invitation to see your film.

They were still showing how angry they were about the opinions expressed by you, especially about nepotism. I think they needed more maturity and should have tried to understand and encourage a fighter like you.......

And now comes another part of your story which I had written in my mind. I knew you were now a story good enough to be made into a film. And I am ecstatic to know that you are going to direct your next film which will be all about the experiences, the excitement and the difficulties of being Kangana Ranaut.

Your story could have been written by any of the ‘great'writers from Mumbai, but you have shown your determination to do things your way by opting for K.V Vijayandra Prasad, the writer from the South who wrote ‘Mankarnika'and who had written the ‘Bahubali' sequels and who has been writing only hits for years.

I only hope that he knows the difference between writing a character from fiction or history, but is writing about a ‘Rani' of today,a real life ‘Rani'called Kangana Ranaut who has created history by herself in less than ten years.

I wish you all the best because of yourself and also because of the hope I see in you to show the world what a woman can do, especially when she is a woman who will not surrender or yield to the negative forces against her at anytime.

And as your admirer, I also look forward to your performances in films with flimsy titles like“Mental Hai Kya"and“Panga". I know you (?) as a young woman who is mentally strong to take on any pangas and I am sure you will not let me down.

Ek perashaan gaanewaala

Ali Peter John