Before the National Awards and the Padma Shri, a teenage Kangana Ranaut was just another hopeful in Mumbai until a chance meeting with Salman Khan changed her perspective. In a candid interview with ANI, the ‘Emergency’ actress recently walked down memory lane, recalling how Salman Khan was the first to recognize her cinematic potential, labeling her a “Sanjay Leela Bhansali heroine” before she had even signed her debut film, ‘Gangster.’
Salman Khan’s encouraging words
When Kangana Ranaut was hardly 16 or 17 years old, she met Salman Khan through a common contact. ‘Gangster’ had not happened yet. He looked at her and said, “she is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s heroine.” He added that she should go and meet Sanjay Bhansali. Kangana called it “a very big compliment.”
The meeting with Sanjay Leela Bhansali
That same day, Kangana went to Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s house with her portfolio. His mother was also present. She told him, “Salman sir has sent me.”
Bhansali went through the pictures and observed her face closely. He remarked, “you look different in every picture. What is your face like?… If we straighten your hair, you look different. If you put a wig, you look different.”
No immediate signing done by Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Bhansali did not sign her at that time. Kangana noted, “He didn’t obviously sign me… He actually meant that maybe if you make it, you’ll know.” She reflected that the opportunity did not come when she needed it most.
Years later, whenever they met, Bhansali would say, “Now whenever Sanjay sir met me, he always remembered that I wish I had listened to Salman.”After the success of ‘Queen’ and ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns’, Sanjay Leela Bhansali approached Kangana for a song in ‘Ram Leela’. The track eventually went to Priyanka Chopra. She recalled, “He said, you should do this song. I said, sir, I don’t want to do item numbers. And he kind of didn’t like it.”
Kangana chose to stay away from item songs at that stage.
Kangana Ranaut on learning from early setbacks
Kangana believes early rejections helped shape her path. She said, “I always say, it’s good when you get something, but if you don’t get it, it’s better… you learn how to make it work even without that opportunity.” Not getting quick validation pushed her to grow as an actor, writer, and filmmaker. A four-time National Award winner and Padma Shri recipient, Kangana’s last film ‘Emergency’, which she directed and in which she portrayed former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, received mixed reviews.
