Kangana Ranaut takes tips from Rekha

Kangana Ranaut, who has already established herself as a youth style icon, will now take fashion cues from Rekha. For her role as slain gangster Manya Surve’s girlfriend in Shootout At Wadala, the young star has been asked to draw sartorial inspiration from yesteryear Bollywood divas, including the late Smita Patil.

Kangana Ranaut, who has already established herself as a youth style icon, will now take fashion cues from Rekha. For her role as slain gangster Manya Surve’s girlfriend in Shootout At Wadala, the young star has been asked to draw sartorial inspiration from yesteryear Bollywood divas, including the late Smita Patil.

Actor-Kangana-Ranaut

“I play a Maharashtrian girl in the film, and since it’s set in the ’70s and early ’80s, I wanted to keep my style as authentic as possible,” says Kangana, who plays Vidya Joshi in the gangster film.

“When I think of fashion, Rekha is one person who clearly appears in my mind. She was so outrageous for that time,” adds Kangana, who has been cast opposite John Abraham for the first time. The Force actor will play Surve in the film, which tells the story of the first registered encounter by the Mumbai police in 1982.

Although the makers remain tight-lipped about the details, Kangana’s looks in the film will mirror her journey from being a regular college girl to becoming Surve’s moll. “Since my character in the latter half is that of a 30-year-old woman, I need to be very sexy. So Sanjay (director Sanjay Gupta) gave me references of these actors because they were considered to be the hottest,” she says.

The references in question are believed to be Patil’s looks from Namak Halaal (1982) and Shakti (1982). Shootout at Wadala boasts of a heavy-duty star cast including Anil Kapoor (as Isaque Bhagwan) and Manoj Bajpayee (as Sabir Kaskar). Ask Kangana if she fears being sidelined in this male-dominated film and she shoots back, “I won’t be. In a way, I’m the romantic force of the film.”