Kangana Ranaut to Karan Johar: I was playing the badass card, not the victim ca...

Reacting to filmmaker Karan Johar’s allegation that she always plays the “victim card”, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has retorted that she was playing the “badass card, not the victim or woman card”.

After Karan said, “I’m done with Kangana playing the victim card,” the Rangoon star told Mumbai Mirror, “What is pertinent here is: why is Karan Johar trying to shame a woman for being a woman? What is this about the ‘woman card’ and the ‘victim card’? This kind of talk is demeaning to all women, particularly the vulnerable because they are the ones who really need to use them. The ‘woman card’ might not help you become a Wimbledon champ, or win you Olympic medals, or bag National awards.”

“It might not even land you a job, but it can get a pregnant woman who feels her water is about to break a ‘ladies’ seat on a crowded bus. It can be used as a cry for help when you sense a threat. The same goes for the ‘victim card’, which women like my sister, Rangoli, who is a victim of an acid attack, can use while fighting for justice in court,” she further told the tabloid.

On Koffee With Karan, Kangana had called Karan “a snooty, flag-bearer of nepotism, who was intolerant to outsiders in the film industry.” She also hinted that he is running a ‘movie mafia’. Karan later said during his recent interaction at an event in the London School of Economics, “I’m done with Kangana playing the woman and victim card. I am done! You cannot be this victim every time and have a sad story to tell about how you’ve been terrorised by the bad world of the industry … leave it.”

Karan further said Kangana was his guest and he “had to hear what she had to say”. He said he was glad that Kangana what nepotism means. “I don’t think she has understood the entire meaning of the term. What is nepotism… am I working with my nieces, nephews, daughters, cousins? And what about those 15 filmmakers, who are not from the film industry, who I have launched and who did the movies. That we’re not going to talk about! Tarun Mansukhani, Puneet Malhotra, Shakun Batra, Shashank Khaitan… they all come from no film background. You give these people film careers and they have a platform to stand on and that’s the reverse of nepotism,” he said.

Kangana also said to the tabloid, “I use every card possible. At the workplace, it’s the badass card to fight cutthroat competition. With my family and loved ones, it’s the love card. When fighting the world, it’s the dignity card, and for a seat in a bus, it’s the woman card. What is important to understand is that we are not fighting people, we are fighting a mentality. I am not fighting Karan Johar, I am fighting male chauvinism.”

“I’m also a little surprised at the “graciousness” he says he displayed in choosing to not edit the jousty bits on the show. While I’d have blacklisted the channel if something like that had happened, let’s also remember that a channel wants TRPs, and he is just a paid host. Also, the Indian film industry is not a small studio given to Karan by his father when he was in his early 20s. That is just a small molecule. The industry belongs to every Indian and is highly recommended for outsiders like me whose parents were too poor to give me a formal training. I learnt on the job and got paid for it, using the money to educate myself in New York. He is nobody to tell me to leave it. I’m definitely not going anywhere, Mr Johar,” she added.