Hours after getting slapped by a CISF constable at the Chandigarh airport last week, actor-turned-MP Kangana Ranaut claimed that no one in her film fraternity came out in her support. However, if one looks closely, voices from Bollywood, including those who’ve had long feuds with her, have shown solidarity. These include veteran actor Shabana Azmi, whose feud with Kangana dates back to a few years ago. Shabana tweeted that while she has no love lost for Kangana, the celebration of the violence inflicted on her doesn’t sit well with her.
(Also Read: Kangana Ranaut brings her movie star glow back in a stunning saree look for Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony)
The Padmaavat episode
In 2017, when the Rajput Karni Sena threatened to chop off Deepika Padukone’s nose for her portrayal of Rani Padmini in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2018 period drama Padmaavat, a host of leading female actors signed a letter demanding action from then-I&B Minister Smriti Irani. However, Kangana refused to be a party because she claimed the campaign led by Shabana Azmi was politically motivated.
Tiff with Hrithik Roshan
A couple of years before that, when Kangana opened up on harassment by former co-star and alleged ex-boyfriend Hrithik Roshan, she claimed his family friends Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi warned Kangana to keep quiet or risk getting her career destroyed. Kangana said that Shabana conveniently didn’t take a stand for her when her character was assassinated, but she lent her support to Deepika because it suited her political leanings.
Legal battle with Javed Akhtar
Shabana’s husband Javed Akhtar had filed a complaint in which he had claimed that Kangana defamed and damaged his “immaculate reputation” by dragging his name into actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death in her interview with a news channel in July 2020.
In 2021, Kangana hit back by filing a counter-complaint against Javed before a magistrate’s court, alleging criminal intimidation and insult to modesty. The actor had alleged that during her meeting with the lyricist at his residence in 2016, he had criminally intimidated her demanding that she apologise to a co-star.
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