Kangana Ranaut’s box office track record is a worrying sign for Manikarnika The Queen of Jhansi
Kangana Ranaut has starred in seven films since her 2014 breakout, Queen. Only one of those films can be considered a box office success. What does this mean for Manikarnika, her big-budget historical epic?
Since her 2014 hit, Queen, Kangana Ranaut has firmly established herself as one of the industry’s top stars. Several reports pegged her salary to be approximately ₹11 crore per film, making her one of Bollywood’s highest-paid actors. By her own admission, she became “bigger than” her movies, according to an interview to critic Anupama Chopra.

But her track record tells a different story altogether.
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Kangana has appeared in seven films since Queen, which can safely be called a turning point for her. Prior to that, she’d mostly appeared in small films, and attracted a fair amount of acclaim for a few performances (Fashion, Tanu Weds Manu, Life in a... Metro). Just prior to Queen making over a hundred crore at the BO, she’d appeared in Rajjo, which could only manage ₹2 crore.
While Queen’s success should ideally have paved the way for more blockbusters for Kangana, the performance of her films post 2014 have been more along the lines of Rajjo - with the sole exception of Tanu Weds Manu Returns. With her big-budget directorial debut, Manikarnika, around the corner, Kangana is once again riding a wave of controversies - she replaced original director Krish midway through production, and has been in a war of words with the Karni Sena in the days leading up to release.
Here is a list of her films, and their worldwide BO hauls
Revolver Rani (2014)

Made on a budget of ₹27 crore, Revolver Rani didn’t click with the audiences, but critics singled out Kangana’s performance.
Ungli (2014)

Ungli was produced on a budget of ₹39 crore, by Dharma Productions. Kangana was a part of an ensemble cast led by Emraan Hashmi. In 2017, she accused Dharma chief Karan Johar of nepotism, sparking off a heated debate.
Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015)

Tanu Weds Manu: Returns is Kangana’s biggest hit yet. Made on a budget of ₹39 crore, the film more than quadrupled the box office takings of the first Tanu Weds Manu movie, which crossed ₹50 crore on a budget of ₹17.5 crore in 2011.
I Love NY (2015)

The film began production in 2011, and was originally slated for release in 2013. But behind-the-scenes troubles forced the release date to be delayed several times. In the end, the film was released hot on the heels of Tanu Weds Manu Returns, and Kangana publicly acknowledged that she wasn’t approached to promote it in any way.
Katti Batti (2015)

The film failed to recuperate its ₹34 crore budget. Some reviews mentioned that Kangana didn’t have as much to do in the film as she should have. It is also Imran Khan’s last release.
Rangoon (2017)

Made on a budget of ₹80 crore, director Vishal Bhardwaj’s film was released amid a slew of controversies - Kangana’s on-set relationship with her co-stars, Shahid Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan wasn’t pleasant, and her appearance on Karan Johar’s Koffee With Karan sparked off the nepotism controversy.
Simran (2017)

Released once again amid a wave of controversies - Kangana frequently brought up her feud with Hrithik Roshan during the promotions, and writer Apurva Asrani alleged that she’d hijacked the film from director Hansal Mehta. Simran made ₹26 crore against its reported budget of ₹17 crore.
There is also a direct co-relation between the quality of her films and their success at the box office - a sign that her star power isn’t enough to attract audiences. Here’s how her movies have scored on the review aggregator site, Review Monk:

All numbers sourced from Box Office India, Bollywood Hungama and Box Office Collection.
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