Kangana Ranaut says Alia Bhatt’s Raazi was a hit because Queen paved the way

Actor Kangana Ranaut has said that her 2014 film Queen brought about a revolution in parallel Indian cinema, and paved the way for other films like Raazi.

Actor Kangana Ranaut has said that she doesn’t fear not being able to generate a budget for her films, because she has a Rs 100 crore hit in her kitty. She has also said that it is because of the success of her film Queen that other ‘parallel’ films such as Alia Bhatt’s Raazi became hits.

In an interview to Pinkvilla, when Kangana was asked if she was worried that financiers might hesitate before funding her films, because they’d be ‘female-driven’, Kangana said, “For me, what works is that I have a Rs 100 crore film behind me. Even if Manikarnika was co-directed by me, I think that makes a huge difference. You have already made the leap from small films to big films. I was initially very reluctant to helm that project but eventually, it went on to become a huge hit. That has added a lot of value and I see a lot of people are keen to invest in my film. Of course, it also depends on the crew you get. We have Vijayendra sir and another writer on board. Your script is everything. Other things don’t matter much.”

 

Previously, actors Kareena Kapoor Khan and Sonam Kapoor had spoken about the difficulty they’d had in arranging for a decent budget for their film Veere Di Wedding, which was fronted by four female actors. Kangana said that because she’s starred in, and co-directed a large-scale film like Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, she believes she will get the money she wants.

Kangana also said that films like Raazi owe their success to her 2014 comedy-drama Queen. “We cultivated that audience,” Kangana said, adding that the film paved the way for others. “Queen started a revolution in terms of parallel films, and now they’re big. Queen’s numbers may not have been that big, but later on films like Raazi became big because by that time parallel films had become mainstream.” The actor recently inaugurated her production house, Manikarnika Films.