Not A Damsel in Distress
I've seen that she has a lot of support from most homemakers and women who have struggled in life. It's like they're waiting for her to win at her goals so there's hope for them as well. Some men seem to not like her much because she seems to be making 'too much noise'. This is because to anyone who sees her in the spurts of media controversies will find it noise, but to anyone who has been viewing her for the past 14 years will know that she has been constantly challenging the status quo. From my understanding of society as it functions today, I feel that the 'typical' male is not a big risk taker. You know, the men are running most companies but it's the women at home I see as amazing entrepreneurs because they are investing their efforts in far-fetched dreams for their children and actually achieving them against the odds. Men on the other hand seem to be better at taking risks in known paths. Very few of them have the women equivalent knack for charting a completely new course.
If I take Kangana as an example, I've seen that most men would accept that she's crazy when the larger concensus is that she is, and accept that she's a force to reckon with when the larger concensus is that she's doing the right thing. But I am interested in knowing what makes a man see in her, what we women are seeing. In the larger scheme of things, I am curious as to what makes a man support his wife in a way Mary Kom's husband did without feeling less of himself? What makes a man encourage his woman to fulfill her dreams even if she earns more than him, while still being confident of who he is as a person?
I see a man's take on Kangana as being a big example of where our society is headed on the gender equality issue. She seems to be aiming at cleansing the society off the evils that we have gotten so used to. She wants to challenge the things that are a deeper long term malaise but don't affect us directly on a day to day basis which is why seeing the relevance of her actions is so difficult. And so I admire the people who can see through that.
Kangana's Life Sets an Example
I have been following Kangana ever since her movie Woh Lamhe released in 2006. She is about four years older than me. She wasn't a big name then but there was some spark in her eyes and I have since then been taking her name anytime someone asks me my favourite actor. I do not believe in the concept of celebrities or stars and have never taken pictures with any that I met unless I know them personally. I usually talk to them and move on because the values I place high in regard doesn't really involve getting famous so I never came across anyone with whom I would like to keep a photograph. And so, I have never seen Kangana as a star. I have always valued her as a human being with immense talent and high morals. It's been 14 years since she has been in the industry and anytime you pick up any video of hers, she has been saying the same things.
One of her first achievements in life according to me was the fact that even though she's from a small village in Himachal, she dared to dream and she never let not knowing English keep her from making her mark in the industry. We don't realise how big this is, but for most people in India it is very difficult to come out of these two challenges, mentally and socially.
She is an immensely fearless woman who had the guts to come out of an abusive relationship at a very young age. She has been vulnerable and swayed to the dark side often but she always managed to get hold of her life. She has never compromised on her beliefs. Everytime she comes up in life, she continues saying things she believes in and people fear her fall. She does. She falls, she leaves the place, gathers her peace of mind through her spiritual process and comes back and fights for her beliefs again.
She fell many times, the first time because she was at loggerheads with her abusers, she refused to be a damsel in distress in her movies and thus chose to stay away. She still acknowledges the time she had to do such movies because she needed money for her sister's surgeries who suffered an acid attack. What does a person go through when they suffer an acid attack? I think the psychological pain must be worse than the physical pain. How did she rise out of this? She came back with Queen. She got a lot of accolades for it and people told her to now use it, she instead left again to study filmmaking. It's said that you can't come back, life doesn't give you a second chance. But she created it herself and went on to make some of the best movies with female lead. She set an example that talent will always be valued however loud the noise of mediocrity is.
Just when she was to soar, she was vilified and humiliated in public again. The things she wrote to a person she loved were open for the world to see. When I saw those writings and all her vulnerabilities in it, I thought how can a person ever come out of this? I have written the same things, what would happen if the world saw it? She was also declared a psycho soon after that. And the world believed it. It is a given that once a woman is declared mad, there is very little hope for her to be taken seriously again. She fell again and she left.
She then again came back with a few movies and even though she was always embroiled in controversies because of her strong opinions, her movies were path-breaking in their respective genres. She has a policy that she never says sorry, she constantly corrects herself and grows but never accepts that she's wrong. And I'm okay with it because that's the kind of stand a woman needs to take, otherwise there are a million people looking for even a small opportunity to pull you down.
He who continually grows, thrives
Her personal growth as a person is also visible through these years. At first she wanted to make women centric movies, then when she faced some opposition she wanted to eradicate nepotism in the industry, then when she wanted to establish her production house she wanted to entirely clean the industry off bad influences, then when she realised the importance of her voice she wanted to create an aware society and now after reading about India and it's ancient past she seems to be wanting another Hindu Renaissance on the lines of the one in mid-19th century. Through these years, I have not agreed with her methods many times. I always think, what the hell is she doing? But for some reason, things go in her favour eventually. Everytime you think she's going to vanish, she survives. People often say she is somebody's pawn, but from what I've noticed she has taken whatever help she needed for her cause, but has never let anyone take charge of her life. Probably because she often says- never let someone make you because whoever can make you, can also break you. So I can sense that she chooses her support very carefully and breaks the chains when she feels it can pull her down.
The amount she has gone through, how is she still so strong? Why doesn't she stop 'talking too much' when things are in her favour? It seems like she has some bigger purposes in life and she will not rest till she has achieved them. Most of her goals involve societal reforms. She narrated a story once where some boys were teasing her and a friend on her way to school. When she complained, she was told- 'you must have done something, there are so many girls in school why do such things happen to you only'. So I see where her rebellion comes from.
Power of Collective Consciousness
She wants to change ideologies that are deep rooted within the system and that's a never ending battle. I think it's because of her simple upbringing in the mountains, she refuses to accept complex societal structures that do no good. She seems to want a world where everyone does the right thing and systems function on high ethical values. All of us have made peace with a lot of things and we see different kinds of rebellion as being unnecessary but her mind refuses to settle for it. It will probably settle when something like a Sat Yuga comes in, i.e, a time when "every manifestation or work is close to the purest ideal and humanity will allow intrinsic goodness to rule supreme".
Can such a thing happen? We'll only find out with time. But until then, Kangana Ranaut will remain a force to reckon with. To me she is that strong woman who has embraced every quality good or bad that is required for a woman to survive in this world which is male centric to a large extent even today. I appreciate her for going through everything that she has and still not becoming a man hater. Well-read people know that evil doesn't manifest in the heart, but in the mind. And mentality of a few can be changed with effort. Kudos to her for not just taking the women empowerment route but in fact taking the empowered woman route to fight a centuries old mindset. Being someone who is not very interested in talking about women empowerment but in being empowered without giving importance to people or things that pull me down, I relate to this approach.
As I write this, she is at the top. She still continues to write things that could go against her and I see people advicing her to use this opportunity for a better now instead. But she won't. Her purpose in life doesn't seem short-term and so she may fall again. But I know that she will rise again, and again and again and one day with her, the society will rise too.
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