The actor on men, sex, romance and films.
Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rahul Dravid, Viswanathan Anand and Manmohan Singh. Which of these men is ideal husband material?
Viswanathan Anand. I like the way he dresses, he wears such amazing formals. Actually, he also has this intelligent look about him. The other people on the list are too high profile for my liking.
It’s your birthday. Which of the following would you like as a gift: Expensive shoes, perfume, sexy underwear or a romantic dinner?
A romantic dinner. Once a man is seated in front of me, I could demand anything—perfume, expensive shoes or sexy underwear! It will depend on how I turn my charm on.
What’s the one thing in a man that turns you on?
The look in his eyes. A look that says how badly he wants me makes me go weak in my knees.
What would you do if you discovered your man was cheating on you?
I would dump him.
What kind of look do you find interesting—arrogant, cool, humorous or intelligent?
Not too intelligent, not too laidback, just calm and cool.
Clean-shaven, bearded men or sporting a stubble—who’s your kind of man?
It differs from man to man. Abhishek (Bachchan) and Saif (Ali Khan), look so hot with and without stubble.
What are the attributes you hate in a man?
Restlessness, for one, turns me off. But being too laidback is also not happening. I don’t like men who are ambitious for material things, bigger house, bigger car, whatever. And I hate them talking about going to the parlour. It’s okay if you want to get a pedicure or facial, but you don’t have to talk about it, guys.
Live-in with an interesting man or marriage with a boring man?
Neither, really. I don’t think I’d ever want to get into a live-in relationship. As for marriage, if he is boring, why would I marry him?
It’s a great day and what would you rather do with your man— cuddle up and watch a TV show, go for a long walk, go shopping, meditate, or have sex?
Meditate or have sex. Both help you de-stress.
What do you think about men in Bollywood?
They are super ambitious. It’s natural, especially when only one in a million becomes a star. It’s natural for him to be completely in love with himself.
I am a crazy, passionate woman. And I want to marry a doctor.” Kangana Ranaut makes that statement just like that, out of the blue, some 30 minutes after we’ve sat down for a chat in her van that’s parked at Mumbai’s Mehboob studio. Why a doc, I ask. “Well, they have this intelligent air about them. And they are calmer. Imagine if I were to marry someone from the industry! We are so self-absorbed. But what happens if two self-absorbed people come together? Someone has to be sorted out and balanced.”
Over the past 30 minutes we’ve been talking about her career. About how she rebelled against her family because she wanted to live on her own and do “something creative”; her move to Delhi from Shimla, and about what she wants in a man. Her man, she says, has to be good-looking, not too laidback, but also not very intelligent (actually, she says not-very-intelligent in her book is someone without any intellectual pretensions).
Ranaut, who’s kind of like Bollywood’s woman-on-the-edge (Life in a Metro, Woh Lamhe…), says she’s not “anything like the characters I have played. I want to be remembered as one of the best actresses to have worked in Bollywood. When people remember stalwarts of Indian cinema like K Asif, Nargisji, Raj Kapoor, Guru Dutt or Aamir Khan, I also want them to think about me.”
Even her debut, in Anurag Basu’s Gangster where she played a fugitive’s alcoholic girlfriend, was pretty unusual. “Now I feel I could have done a million different things with such a complex character. Back then, I was so vulnerable and spontaneous.” The only film – Suneel Darshan’s Shaka Laka Boom Boom – in which she’s played a ‘normal’ heroine proved to be one of 2007’s biggest turkeys.
Coming up next in Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion is another on-edge role, that of a supermodel, “a woman with immense attitude”. Rumour has it that the role is based on the life of former model Geetanjali Nagpal, whose disappeared off the glam radar and ended up on Delhi’s streets, reportedly due to drug abuse.
Of course, Ranaut doesn’t confirm any similarities, but does she deliberately choose to do such roles or do they choose her? “People are used to seeing me in performances that are slightly edgy. The women I portray on screen have rarely been seen as part of mainstream Bollywood. Why should I break out of the mould for the heck of it? I am dying to do a love story or a comedy, but only if the story interests me.”
Right now, is there something she fears as an actor? “Sometimes I think what if I loose it? I am a small town girl, not used to all the glamour. What if I cannot take the success, the attention, which is part of every actor’s life? What if I become a complete freak?”
Man's World January '08
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