Kangana Ranaut On Winning Her Third National Award

Kangana Ranaut won her first National Award for a supporting role in Fashion (2008). Following that, she won another one for Queen (2013), in the Best Actress category. On March 28, Kangana scored a hat-trick, as she won her third National Award for her performance in Tanu Weds Manu Returns (TWMR, 2015). No wonder the actor, who is currently vacationing in Himachal Pradesh with her family, is over the moon.

Source: firstpost.com

Three National Awards is really something! How does it feel?

It’s extremely overwhelming. To get an award from the President for your work is a great feeling. The National Award has no façade…it’s not an award for the TRPs. It’s a great feeling when you are invited by the government to be there with artistes from across the country. I am looking forward to going back. And I’m so happy that I got it (the National Award) right after my birthday (March 23), making it all the more special.

Since Queen won a lot of awards, somewhere, you must have anticipated winning the National Award for it. Did winning one for TWMR surprise you?

Honestly, at the time of Queen, I had tough competition from Mary Kom (2014). So that award also came as a surprise. This year, I was very proud of both the performances in TWMR (she plays a double role in the film). I thought they were smart performances and were not easy to pull off. I treated them very differently. TWMR was one of the highest grossers of the year, and it was a massy film. Aanandji (Aanand L Rai, director) was sure that he wanted to make a film that’s full of songs, dances and wedding sequences. It wasn’t one of those niche movies that you anticipate a National Award for. So, I really didn’t think I would win. But, this is definitely my best performance so far. Keeping both the characters together, and playing the protagonist and the antagonist was hard.

How did your family react?

My mother started crying, because she got really overwhelmed. Rangoli (Chandel; sister) was shaking with excitement. When I won my first National Award for Fashion, I got around 10 phone calls that day. Now, it’s amazing to see so many people rooting for me. I have so many people to celebrate with now, unlike earlier. Even with whatever mess I’m going through in my [personal] life, I get so many calls simply out of concern. It’s so nice to see that. 

Amitabh Bachchan has also won a National Award...

Mr Bachchan is very dear to me. He was the first person to wish me at midnight on my birthday, even before my parents did. I can’t believe he is so nice to me. I’m really looking forward to that one picture that I’ll click with him where we will both have our awards. A lot has been written about your personal life of late. How are you dealing with it? I have always said that life cannot be all flat grass. There will always be night after day. It’s a cycle. So something bad will happen and it will be combined with something nice, and you will rise again. That’s how life is. Everyone’s life is like that and my life is no different. It’s just that my stories get published all over the place (laughs).