In the Kangana Ranaut vs Karan Johar battle, the Queen actor just won another round. The Bollywood star, who called out Karan Johar’s nepotism on his own show has now slammed the producer-director for accusing her of playing the ‘victim card’ and the ‘woman card’
In an interview to Roshmila Bhattacharya for Mumbai Mirror, Kangana asked why Karan was “trying to shame a woman for being a woman.” Talking about the ‘woman card’ and the ‘victim card’ was “demeaning”, especially to vulnerable women, Kangana said.
“[The ‘woman card’] 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,” Kangana said.
The tiff between Kangana and Karan began when the former was lauded for calling out the apathy of Bollywood (including Karan) towards newcomers like her when she was on Karan’s talk show a few weeks before.
While Karan remained silent on his show, he decided to hit out at her when she wasn’t around - during a chat with the students of London School of Economics. The producer-director slammed Kangana, saying that he was done with her playing the ‘woman card’ and the ‘victim card’. He added that she should leave the film industry if she was having so much trouble.
Never one to back down, Kangana had a fitting reply to Karan’s ignorant and sexist remarks. In her interview, Kangana said that she uses “every card in the book” – a different one for different places and circumstances. For instance, she uses the ‘badass card’ at the workplace against cutthroat competition. When she’s fighting the world, she uses the ‘dignity card’.
She clarified that despite all that has gone down between them, Kangana’s battle is not with Karan, but with “male chauvinism”. “What is important to understand is that we are not fighting people, we are fighting a mentality,” she said.
Countering Karan’s claim that he gave her a platform through his show, Kangana said that she had been on many international platforms before. “To say he helped me voice my opinions is to discredit me as an artiste and a public personality,” she said.
She also said that Karan was doing her no favours by not editing the controversial bits out. Pointing out that he is merely a paid host, she said that the channel actually wanted the TRPs.
Taking a stand against Karan’s jibe asking her to leave the film industry, Kangana said that the film industry was “not a small studio given to Karan by his father”. The film industry was as much every Indian’s - including outsiders like her who could not afford formal training and learnt on the job.
“He is nobody to tell me to leave it. I'm definitely not going anywhere, Mr Johar,” Kangana maintained.