Three-time National award winning actress Kangana Ranaut says that she could never feel pride in her lineage.
Kangana Ranaut was asked whether she felt 'caste pride' when she was growing up, while in conversation with RavishKumar at the NDTV Youth For Change Conclave in New Delhi.
She also said how, while growing up in a conservative Rajput family in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, her father had bought guns for her brother and told him that he can become a commando when he grows up but to Kangana, he said could marry and there was no need of a career.
Kangana says, she 'just wanted to be free' and remembered how she felt stifled in a conservative background.
"Big cities are money-oriented, small towns are more concerned about what people -- buaji, mausiji -- will say?"
While studying in Chandigarh, she was shamed for wearing a mini-skirt and people used to make calls to her father to inform him of his daughter and her mother was criticised for raising a 'badtameez'.
In the conversation, she also talked about how she was mocked for her English speaking skills and how she wasn't able to make herself understood. "It's what is inside you that counts, not how well you
speak English or Chinese or whatever", says Ranaut. She also said how accents like Haryanvi are rarely given their due respect and how actors like Irrfan Khan helped to bring down the hype on English speaking skills.
Kangana was recently the centre point of a debate in a nepotism debate. She had famously called Bollywood director Karan Johar, the 'Flag bearer of nepotism' in his own show, 'Koffee with Karan'. Her
Rangoon co-star Saif Ali Khan too was part of the show. Later, the issue escalated when Karan Johar, actor Varun Dhawan and Saif Ali Khan made a gig out of the episode and targeted the actress for her comment. Saif -the 'Prince' of Bollywood, played safe, (or he thought so) and wrote a letter defending nepotism, even going so far as to compare artists following the ‘family profession’ with the racehorses being bred from the finest studs and mares.
Kangana Ranaut wrote back, saying if family genes were responsible for how people turn out, she'd have become a farmer.
Instead, Kangana Ranaut travelled to Mumbai when she was 16, started modelling, made her debut with 'Gangster' in 2006 and went on to win three National Awards - two best actress trophies ('Tanu Weds
Manu Returns', 'Queen') and a Best Supporting Actress award ('Fashion').
Kangana, who has been appreciated for films like "Fashion", "Queen" and "Tanu Weds Manu Returns", says she tries to be away from award shows.
"There is a lot of manipulation in our award shows. Like they will tell you in advance that you will get this award, but will ask to perform for them. I try to stay away from all this."
The three time National Award winning actress also said that in future she would like to do things that have some "underlined significance".
"At 30, I have seen a lot of things in my life. A film nearly takes two years of your life. That's the kind of contribution that I like to give to films. Other than entertainment, I will not like to do something which doesn't have any underlined significance," Kangana said.
"I should be able to communicate to my audience directly and cause some sort of impact, which will bring me closer to them. That's what I am planning to do when I will take up direction," she added.
(with inputs from IANS)