A BIG portrait of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dwarfing two other framed pictures, one of Babasaheb Ambedkar and the other of Bharat Mata, and bright red plastic chairs neatly piled up. These are the only two giveaways of the impending elections at the red-tiled Ranaut mansion in Bhambla village of Mandi.
Over 20 km away, dressed in white, with a string of pearls around her neck, Kangana Ranaut stands in an open Gypsy on a Friday morning as slogans of “Kangana ji ko Jai Shri Ram… Modi ji ko Jai Shri Ram” fill the air.
Kangana, 37, is a natural as she effortlessly slips into her latest role — as the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Mandi, the party’s first woman candidate from the seat in a general election. As her mid-sized convoy wends its way to Bhambla, where her family has organised a dhaam (Himachali feast) for the villagers, the crowd flocks to catch a glimpse of the girl who made a journey rare for these parts — all the way to Mumbai to act in movies. She had little going for her, except those impossibly defiant golden curls and a gumption that has defined her stint in Bollywood, where she took on some of the biggest stars and producers with her blunt talk.
At Sarkaghat, she is welcomed by local MLA Dilip Kumar. Kangana launches into a short speech at the marketplace, saying, “It’s my turn to serve the people. Main koi kami nahin chhadni (There won’t be any shortcomings),” she says in Pahadi. Seeking votes in the PM’s name, Kangana tells the crowd that has turned up to see her to treat her, “Mandi ki Beti” and its “rashtrawadi awaaz (nationalist voice)”, as one of their own, not as a celebrity from Mumbai. “Tohaan koi nahin sochna Kangana star hai, Kangana tuhari beti hai, behen hai.”
A Bollywood to BJP journey
In Bhambla, Joginder Pal Mahajan, a childhood friend of her father Amardeep Ranaut, finds some old photos of six-year-old Kangana at a birthday party of his children. “We are very proud of Chottu, she has put us on the political map of the country,” beams the man who, when asked for directions to Kangana’s house, happily obliges.
Kangana is not the first politician from her family. That credit goes to her great grandfather Thakur Sarju Singh, the first MLA from Sarkaghat Assembly seat in Mandi. Her father Amardeep Ranaut, a businessman who diversified from farming to a business in building materials in the early 1980s, says Sarju Singh was a junior commissioned officer in the British army and a freedom fighter. “He was a public-spirited man and soon after Independence, he joined the Congress, the only party that was there during those days. He remained a legislator for two terms, both times on a Congress ticket,” he says.
Kangana Ranaut’s house at Bhambla village in Mandi district in Himachal Pradesh. (Photo by Rakesh Kumar)
Amardeep too had a brush with the party in his youth. “Very briefly,” he qualifies. “I was the general secretary of the local Congress unit before my marriage and then I got busy with my business,” he says. A few metres from the house is ‘Ranaut Autos’, a tractor showroom that Amardeep runs. His brother’s auto agency sits right next door.
The family says it got disillusioned with the Congress after Kangana’s run-ins with the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government, in which the Congress was an alliance partner. Kangana’s remarks in 2020, in the wake of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, when she said she felt unsafe in Mumbai and likened the city to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir had led to an FIR against the actor and a war of words between the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress and the actor.
“They called her names and even destroyed her office. It was then that the BJP came to her support and gave her security,” says Amardeep.
‘Gaon ki ladki’ to Queen Kangana
Mandi, one of the four parliamentary constituencies in Himachal and its largest, has 17 Assembly seats. In the 2022 Assembly elections, the BJP won 13 of the 17 seats. Despite its dominance, the BJP has never nominated a woman candidate for this seat even though two women, Rani Amrit Kaur and Pratibha Singh, both of the Congress, have previously won from here.
Historically, the Lok Sabha seat has been a stronghold of former royals, starting with its first MLA, Rani Amrit Kaur of the erstwhile Patiala state, to sitting MP Pratibha Singh, wife of the late Virbhadra Singh and the ‘maharani’ of the princely state of Bushahr.
Kangana Ranaut’s childhood image (first from the right)
Though she is Bollywood’s ‘Queen’ Kangana — a name that stuck after her nuanced performance in the 2013 movie that won her a national award, but which her critics use to refer to her allegedly diva ways in Bollywood — in Mandi, Kangana is mostly “Chottu”.
There is barely anyone in the largely prosperous hamlet of 1,000-odd people who doesn’t have a “Chottu” story.
In the main market of Baldwara tehsil, where houses are painted in shades ranging from parrot green to carrot red, Des Raj Bamla, a salesman, says he has vivid memories of Kangana, who studied in Hill View, then the only private school in these parts. “She used to come to our government school to take her exams along with other Hill View students. Woh cultural programmes bada achha karti thi, aur dance mein bhi kaafi forward thi. (She did well in cultural programmes and danced well too).”
Back at the Ranaut home, Kangana’s mother Asha says her middle child readily volunteered for cultural programmes in school. She would not just sing, but write scripts for school functions and even direct her classmates, recalls Asha, a former government school teacher who taught Hindi and Sanskrit. She is particularly proud of her Sanskrit. “Tabhi to meri beti itni sanskari hai (That’s why my daughter upholds her values),” she smiles.
The tweet controversy — when Congress’s Supriya Srinate made an oblique reference to Kangana’s profession and her hometown Mandi – has stung Asha hard. “I want to ask her (Srinate) how would she react if someone were to post such drivel about her daughter.”
A career in films was unthinkable for the Ranauts. “We didn’t even have a television when we got married,” says Asha. “And there was no cinema hall here for miles.”
Kangana Ranaut’s father Amardeep Ranaut and mother Asha Ranaut. (Photo by Rakesh Kumar)
Theirs was a joint family — grandfather Brahm Chandra Ranaut, chief executive officer of Himachal Khadi Board, gave Kangana her name. Their dreams were simple: to have their three children take up medicine, engineering or teaching. Kangana was sent to Chandigarh for her Class 11 and 12 so that she could study for her medical entrance exams.
That’s when Kangana dropped the bombshell: about joining films. “Our family, our neighbours, no one supported the idea,” says father Amardeep.
Kangana then sought permission to take part in a contest by a skincare company. “We thought a gaon ki ladki (a village girl) will never be able to hold her own in front of the city girls with their fancy English. So we agreed,” he says. Kangana also put in another condition: If she won the contest, she would go to Mumbai.
To their amazement, Kangana not only won the runner-up position but was also made the company’s brand ambassador. “Then we had no option but to let her go,” recalls Amardeep.
Kangana Ranaut’s mother Asha Ranaut at her residence in Mandi. (Photo by Rakesh Kumar)
But they are happy that Mumbai didn’t change them or their daughter. “She calls us every day, she has built a house in Manali, and is on the way to opening a restaurant there. She keeps her siblings close. Her elder sister Rangoli is her best friend. Her brother Akshat is a trained engineer and pilot who is now handling her production house,” says Asha.
‘I like her plainspeak’
A narrow winding road leads to a beautiful shrine on a hilltop in Dhaboi, the Ranauts’ ancestral village that’s about 30 km from Bhambla. The kota stone temple is dedicated to Ma Ambika, the family’s presiding deity.
Priest Amarnath Sharma says this is the second temple that Kangana commissioned. “She got the first one pulled down. This temple was finally built by masons from Rajasthan with stones they got from there. She comes here at least two-three times a year,” says Sharma.
Sushmita, an anganwadi worker whose office is across the road from the temple, confesses to her newfound admiration for Kangana. “I don’t approve of her profession, but I like her plainspeak. She speaks the truth, no matter how bitter. I hope that as the BJP’s candidate, she meets common people to find out what they need. This village, for instance, has no bus service. It’s so tough for us to commute from one place to the other.”
Kangana Ranaut built Kuldevi temple at Dhaboi village in Mandi. (Photo by Rakesh Kumar)
Down the hill on the main road to Jogindernagar, Radhika, who is doing an MSc from Hamirpur, says she is looking forward to seeing Kangana win. “It will prove that a gaon ki beti can become anything she wants to be.”
Further away from Bhambla, the fandom begins to dissipate. Tek Singh, sarpanch of Balh village in Kullu, which also falls in the Mandi constituency, calls Kangana a parachute candidate. “She is a star. Do you think people will be able to gain access to her once she is voted to power? The people of Himachal are not blinded by celebrities.”
Anil Sharma, secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, who also hails from Mandi, says the party does not consider Kangana a strong candidate. “She will face a tough challenge.”
Tara Chand Thakur, BJP leader and pradhan of Khudla gram panchayat, is optimistic of her chances. “Kangana ji visited the party’s campaign office. We have another camp office at her residence in Bhambla. We are fully prepared for the election campaign,” says Thakur.
Back in the Ranaut household, anticipation builds over their new roles. Kangana’s nephew Prithu and his bunch of friends are playing antakshari until visitors usurp their chairs. Mother Asha eagerly awaits her upcoming election duties while uncle Sanjeev Ranaut is mobilising people for Kangana’s welcome. As more people drop by, father Amardeep implores with folded hands, “Pray for our daughter, we are relying on all the support we can gather.”
