The social media came in her support when she called out Bollywood’s long-standing nepotism on a chat show! She never minces her words to get on the good cards of the B-town celebs. With her “kicking patriarchy in the curb” and “standing her ground” attitude, Kangana Ranaut became the hope of pop feminism in India.
A Feminist Has Arrived
Kangana always unabashedly put forth her views on feminism and she was lauded for the same. Kangana became one among the few who get feminism right, when she said that it is equality that women are looking for in the society and not preferential status. Be it the existing sexist syndrome in the showbiz or hypocrisy of her co-actors, she set the records straight. Therefore, she became the “to-go” actress for all the entertainment reporters as she always has an opinion on something.
She was fighting alone and we, fans in awe of her, were unconditionally rooting for her. But then something changed.
Views changed to comments and along with her sister Rangoli, Kangana started taking jibe at anyone and everyone. Yes, victimisation is possible, more than once, twice and even more. But to think that almost everyone has wronged her? That’s where Kangana started to lose her credibility.
She started to glorify her struggles and justify her statements because of what she might have been through.
Even up to this point, we had hoped that she will have a turnaround, but her hypocritical gimmicks took that away.
Feminist To A Bigot
It all started with her supporting celebrated designer, Sabyasachi Mukherjee. He said in a press conference, “I think, if you tell me you do not know how to wear a saree, I would say shame on you. It’s a part of your culture, (you) need to stand up for it.” Sabyasachi received backlash for his narrow-sighted opinion.
In an interview later, the Manikarnika actress commented, “I think if you’re an Indian woman, you should know how to drape a saree. It’s a racket out there with people who only want to shame others in the name of propagating their culture and identity.” Her conforming to designer’s views didn’t go down well with most people.
Her outlook was in stark contrast of her own struggles where she had to do things against her will. Now, by equating saree with something that every Indian woman should know, she clearly gave a glimpse of her self-righteous side. She also did a rookie mistake that every extremist is known for- “Asking equality for herself but overlooking others’ choice.”
Making Way Through Masculine Nationalism
Clearly, using feminism as a mere tool for her popularity didn’t serve Kangana good. So, she slowly turned towards the right-wing ideology. Not saying that’s entirely bad as every party has its own redeeming features. But, in doing so, Kangana, and her double standards slowly started to show. The right-wing ideology not only runs on self-righteous sense of patriotism but also on the cultural biases towards women. By siding with political sexists, she has now begun to look like her oppressor – patriarchy.
However, this time around, her “wise” selection of an agenda has made her the darling of radical politics followers.
On social media, right-wing men who used to call her ‘psycho’ for her feminist acts are now hailing her as a ‘hero’ for siding with them.
Which brings us to the case: Was she ever a feminist?
She might have found success in realigning her beliefs to match the wave of nationalist-masculine beliefs, but lost her credibility.
Another woke feminist lost as she found the means of survival in mirroring orthodox patriarchy in her beliefs.