‘Where else would cockroaches live?’: Kangana Ranaut defends her Gen Gutter remarks

She also denied that her comments were aimed at all young people. “If some young people use drugs, or if we discuss the current trend of addiction involving drugs, betting, gambling, or the dark web, addressing a specific segment of the youth doesn’t mean I was making a blanket statement about everyone. Did I say that all youth belong to the gutter? I specifically referred to some people or some women,” she said.

In the last week of July, thousands of students gathered at Jantar Mantar in Delhi under the banner of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) to protest against the alleged NEET-UG paper leak and demand accountability and reforms in the examination system. The protests intensified after a police crackdown during the July 20 Chalo Sansad march. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned on July 25 after the government accepted some of the protesters’ demands, and the CJP withdrew its agitation the same day.

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Days after the protests wound down, Kangana Ranaut posted a series of Instagram stories attacking the protest videos and the language ostensibly used by some of the protestors. She described the footage as revolting and criticised the language and conduct on display. “Never in my life have I seen so much ugliness in one place. These reels from Gen Z protests are puke-inducing. The way they speak and the kind of language they are using, never in my life have I seen everything in each and every frame so jarring and so crass all at once,” she had written.

She went further, coining the phrase “Generation Gutter” and accusing some young people, particularly “young Hindu women,” of wanting to imitate independent career women without earning their freedom or taking any accountability. She alleged they were “not good at studies,” could not be homemakers either, and flaunted their “freedom to have drugs, drinks or endless body counts” while living off their parents’ earnings. She also addressed CJP supporters directly, writing, “You call yourself cockroaches and look and behave like them as well. There is no paradox or juxtaposition there, just simply subjecting the world to your filth, garbage and ugliness.”

The remarks, however, didn’t sit well many. Opposition leaders questioned why Kangana Ranaut, as a woman and an elected representative, showed no concern for students who were allegedly beaten and mistreated during the protests. Actor Sonu Sood called the comments “very shameful.”

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On the work front, Kangana Ranaut was last seen in the film Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata, directed by Manoj Tapadia. The film was based on the true story of nurses and hospital staff at Cama Hospital who saved patients during the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.