Highlights
- Kangana Ranaut has recalled feeling heartbroken by her parents' reaction to her debut film Gangster.
- The actor said her family focused on how society would view her role rather than her performance.
- Ranaut later realised her father viewed cinema differently from industry figures such as Amitabh Bachchan.
- National honours, including a National Award and the Padma Shri, helped change her parents' perception of her career.
Early acclaim did not bring the reaction she expected
Kangana Ranaut's breakthrough performance in Gangster introduced a powerful new talent to Bollywood, but the response she received at home was far from what she had hoped for.
Looking back on the film that launched her career, the actor-politician revealed that her parents were more concerned about public opinion than the praise her performance received.
“My father had no reaction after watching the film. My mother's response was, ‘Our society won't accept this. You are underage and have done all kinds of scenes,’” Ranaut said in a recent interview with Pen Movies.
The actor admitted that the comments left her deeply disappointed.
“I was heartbroken. Out of everything in the film, that was all she noticed. They were more worried about society than my performance,” she said.
Understanding her parents' perspective
The experience stayed with Ranaut for years and influenced how she responded to criticism and feedback from her family.
She recalled deciding that she would no longer take reviews from her parents seriously. However, her perspective changed after receiving appreciation from Amitabh Bachchan for her performances in films including Queen.
According to Ranaut, the praise helped her realise that her father viewed cinema through a completely different lens from someone who had spent a lifetime in the film industry.
She said she eventually understood that it was unfair to expect him to assess her work in the same way as a fellow actor or filmmaker.
Recognition that changed minds at home
While Gangster failed to convince her parents of her achievements, national recognition proved to be a turning point.
Ranaut said her family was genuinely delighted when she received a National Award, particularly because the honour came from the President of India.
She added that receiving the Padma Shri further transformed her father's outlook on her profession.
According to the actor, these milestones helped her parents appreciate the scale of what she had achieved through cinema and gave them a new understanding of the career path they had once viewed with concern.
For Ranaut, the journey from disappointing her family with her debut role to making them proud through national honours became one of the most significant chapters of her career.
