Kangana Ranaut wants govt to take back Karan Johar’s Padma Shri, claims he ‘openly intimidated’ her, made ‘anti-national’ film
Kangana Ranaut has requested the Indian government to take back the Padma Shri that Karan Johar was honoured with earlier this year. She had earlier said that the director ‘totally deserved’ the honour.
Kangana Ranaut, through her team’s Twitter handle, has requested the Indian government to take Karan Johar’s Padma Shri back. The actor accused Johar of intimidating her on an international platform, conspiring against Sushant Singh Rajput and attempting to destroy his career and making an ‘anti-national’ film against the armed forces.
“I request government of India to take KJO’s PadmaShri back,he openly intimidated me and asked me to leave the industry on an international platform,conspired to sabotage Sushanth’s career,he supported Pakistan during Uri battle and now antinational film against our Army,” the tweet read.
Kangana and Karan Johar have been engaged in a long-running feud, which started with her calling the director ‘the flag-bearer of nepotism’ on his show, Koffee With Karan. The debate was reignited in the aftermath of Sushant’s death as Kangana claimed that the actor was ‘ostracised’ by the Bollywood privilege club.
Tuesday’s tweet quoted another tweet on former Indian Air Force pilot Gunjan Saxena’s coursemate, Flight Lieutenant (retd) Sreevidya Rajan, saying that the makers of Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl ‘twisted’ facts. The film has been produced by Karan’s banner Dharma Productions and came out on Netflix last week.
When Kangana alleged that she was ‘openly intimidated’ by Karan, she was talking about his comments at the London School of Economics in March 2017, shortly after she called him the ‘flag-bearer of nepotism’ and ‘movie mafia’. He had said that she should quit the film industry, if she felt so wronged by it: “You cannot be this victim at every given point of time who has a sad story to tell about how you have been terrorised by the bad world of the industry, leave it.”
Kangana has also accused Karan of colluding with his ‘best friend’ Aditya Chopra to sabotage Sushant’s career. She claimed that Karan signed Sushant for Drive and then ‘dumped’ the film on Netflix, declaring to the world that he could not find buyers for a film featuring a ‘flop star’.
Kangana’s allegation that Karan ‘supported Pakistan’ after the Uri attack was based on him casting Pakistani actor Fawad Khan in his last directorial venture, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil. While the film was shot and completed before the Uri attack in September 2016, people were up in arms against it for featuring Pakistani talent and demanded a ban on its release. He then issued an apology video in which he said he would never work with Pakistani actors again.
Finally, Kangana has called Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl an ‘anti-national film’ for showing male air force officers in a negative light. Earlier, the Indian Air Force wrote to the censor board, saying that the film showed them in an ‘undue negative light’.
Kangana and Karan were announced as the recipients of the prestigious Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in January this year. “I heartily congratulate him. I think he totally deserves this award. As a producer, the kind of films he backs, whether it is Kesari or Good Newwz, are commendable, as is the position he has worked to achieve. Even though his father gave him a head start, he has risen to the top because of his own efforts and merits,” she had earlier said in an interview.
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