Amitabh Bachchan and Kangana Ranaut who received best actor and best actress award respectively during the 63rd National Film Awards ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, on May 3, 2016

By Durga Chakravarty 

Noida, May 29: Her journey in filmdom has been a “roller-coaster ride”, and Kangana Ranaut likes it this way!

Between the highs and lows of stardom, and amidst controversies, the National Award winning actress says being under a scanner constantly gets too much to handle at times because at the end of the day, she’s just a “Homo sapien”.

Best Actress awardee Kangana Ranaut at the 63rd National Film Awards Function, in New Delhi on May 3, 2016 (in the bcgd)President Pranab Mukherjee
Best Actress awardee Kangana Ranaut at the 63rd National Film Awards Function, in New Delhi on May 3, 2016 (in the bcgd)President Pranab Mukherjee

Talking about her decade-long journey in Hindi films, Kangana told IANS: “It’s been quite an open book…we’ve all witnessed it together. So, it has been quite a roller-coaster ride and honestly I don’t want it to be any other way.”

Of late, Kangana has been in the news for her legal spat with Hrithik Roshan. Does being under a constant watch by people bother her?

“Well, I think sometimes, a bit. I think sometimes a distant approach to a human being despite or in spite of them being celebrities, is needed,” said the Himachal Pradesh-born actress, who has no role model.

“I think there are no standards and parallels that I draw. There is no certain somebody that I want to live like or I would want to have a life similar to. So, my own standards is (are from) my own life.

“It (the attention and controversies) does get a little too much at times, but, like I said, the most beautiful thing about life is that it keeps moving on.

“I think, when very humanly things are being discussed about us (celebrities)… About how can her hair twist in that way, or how can her nose run… These things get slightly little too much because I am just a Homo sapien like you call it,” added the 29-year-old actress.

If she has had successes in the form of “Fashion”, “Tanu Weds Manu” and “Queen”, there have also been movies like “Game”, “Rascals” and “Katti Batti”, which did not fare well at the box office.

Kangana, who’s known for her style sense, says she takes opinions of a bona fide critic seriously.

“There are bona fide critics, who would give a critic and that would be actually valuable to a lot of people… so I respect it.”

What doesn’t impact her are opinions on social media.

“Social media is very different. That’s about a lot of personal space, where everyone has a personal opinion on everything. It is not something that is going to make a direct impact on anything.”

Kangana says she is not on social media platforms, but when she stumbles across a joke — even if it’s about her — she enjoys it.

“But do I want to take this seriously, and consider it? When a person is criticising a set of ideas, there is another dimension that your brain opens up to. Do I want to see it like that? No, may be not… Because they are not bona fide critics, they are just people like you and I,” she added.

Does she ever plan to join social media?

“I am really not a person who likes, what you call, say, junk communication! There are no valuable ideas being exchanged out there.

“That’s out of my very little understanding of social media,” said the actress, whose next film is Vishal Bhardwaj’s upcoming directorial “Rangoon”.

Just last week, Kangana was here to launch her fashion line Venice Cruise for European-high street fashion brand Vero Moda.

Asked if she ever plans to launch her own label, Kangana said: “That’s actually a huge responsibility. Having your own label actually is like setting up an industry of your own. It’s not easy to produce garments and it’s not easy to set up a team of people.”

Kangana also understands that “making garments is not just about designing”.

Having said that, at some point, she would love to launch her own label. “But right now I really don’t have the time and experience to set up my own brand.”

By K. Dev