How Kangana Ranaut went from 'Queen' of Bollywood to giving 0 hits in 10 years, seeing 93% loss at box office

Kangana Ranaut was once a force to reckon with at the box office, giving historic hits. Yet, she has no clean hit in almost a decade now.

Kangana Ranaut was once heralded as the finest female actor of her generation in Hindi cinema. In terms of sheer talent, that has not changed in the last decade. But when it comes to the box office draw, there is a wide chasm in her stature and what she has delivered lately. Despite her multiple National Awards and past glories, box office success has eluded Kangana for almost a decade. And early trends show that her recent release, Emergency, won't be able to break the trend either.

Kangana Ranaut starred in Tanu Weds Manu and Tanu Weds Manu Returns, both of which broke box office records.

When Kangana Ranaut was the 'Queen' of Bollywood

From 2011-15, Kangana could do little wrong. The actor starred in several films that starred her without a 'bigger' male star, and all did well. Between Queen, Tanu Weds Manu and Tanu Weds Manu Returns, she broke the record for the highest-grossing female-led Bollywood film thrice. No other star had done this before. Nobody has done this since. And yet, this was to be her zenith. Most film buffs had expected the actor – then 28 – to go from strength to strength. But a spate of bad luck, bad choices, and controversies affected her subsequent films.

Kangana Ranaut gave back-to-back hits in 2014-15.(REUTERS)

Kangana Ranaut's films in the last 10 years

Since the success of Tanu Weds Manu Returns, Kangana has starred in 11 films, including Emergency, which was released last week. None of these have been successful at the box office. Barring one, all have been flops. In fact, her last two releases before Emergency – Tejas and Dhaakad – were termed disasters due to extremely low collections. The only film of Kangana that managed to do decent business in the last 10 years is Manikarnika – The Queen Of Jhansi. The 2019 biopic of Rani Laxmibai earned ₹92 crore nett in India and ₹133 crore worldwide. But its big budget meant it was not a clean hit and ended up an average grosser at the box office.

Kangana Ranaut's lean streak of late

While a few of Kangana's films did fare decently at the box office pre-pandemic (largely Manikarnika and Panga), after Covid, her films have fallen flat at the ticket window. Before Emergency, her last three films – Tejas, Dhaakad, and Thalaivi – were all massive box office failures. The three films have a combined budget of ₹255 crore, but their joint box office collections are just ₹17 crore, meaning the box office revenue alone has been 93% short of the investment. Dhaakad, an action film mounted on a ₹85-crore budget, was the worst of the lot, earning only ₹3 crore worldwide.

Kangana Ranaut's Dhaakad earned only ₹3 crore worldwide.

Can Emergency turn the tide?

Emergency was to be Kangana Ranaut's magnum opus. As the director, Kangana had complete creative control over her film, and the subject was relevant. Yet, the end result remained less than the sum of its parts. Made on a reported budget of ₹60 crore, Emergency is struggling to reach ₹15 crore even in its first six days. It is highly unlikely that the film will be able to break even, continuing Kangana's bad run of form.