Kangana Ranaut says she almost lost out on Gangster because Mahesh Bhatt thought she was ‘too young’ for the part

Kangana Ranaut made her acting debut in Bollywood with Gangster in 2006, which was directed by Anurag Basu and produced by Mahesh Bhatt.

Did you know Chitrangada Singh was in talks to replace Kangana Ranaut in Gangster? Kangana, who is busy promoting her upcoming feature film Emergency, recalled in an interview with The Lallantop that she cleared the audition round, but was put on hold when Mahesh Bhatt thought she was too young to play such a demanding role in the film. (Also read: Kangana Ranaut on if Rahul Gandhi will like her film Emergency: 'Agar Tom and Jerry dekhte honge toh kaise samajh ayegi')

Kangana Ranaut in a still from Anurag Basu's romantic-thriller Gangster.

What Kangana said

During the chat, Kangana opened up about the way she grabbed her debut film and said in Hindi, "Anurag Basu had made the hit film Murder (2004) before Gangster. He was looking for a new actress for his new film, and I was giving a lot of auditions at that time. I went to their studio located in Juhu for the audition. Anurag was also there, and he told me that he had received my photos. Then he asked me to do a few things. First, he asked me to do a drunk scene. After that, he asked me to show how I cried. Then, he asked me to say a couple of dialogues. I did what was told and was sent home after that."

She added, “A few days later, I got a call from Anurag and was told that I had been finalised. Then after a few days, Anurag called me and told me, 'You have lost the role'. He said that Mahesh Bhatt Saab is not agreeing as he thinks that you are too young for this role. Anurag even said that Chitrangada has been cast for my role. But then Chitrangada, for whatever reasons, was not picking up the phone so the role ended up in my bag.”

More details

Gangster also starred Shiney Ahuja and Emraan Hashmi. Directed by Anurag Basu, the film proved to be a surprise hit and Kangana even won the Filmfare award for best female debut that year. After Gangster, Kangana appeared in films such as Woh Lamhe (2006) and Life In a Metro (2007) among others, before landing a milestone project with Madhur Bhandarkar’s Fashion, for which she won her first National Film Award for Best Female Actor in a supporting role in 2008.

Fans will see Kangana next in Emergency, which has been directed, co-produced as well as written by her. It also stars Anupam Kher, Mahima Chaudhary, Milind Soman, Shreyas Talpade, Vishak Nair, and the late Satish Kaushik. It was eyeing a release in theatres on September 6, but now stands postponed.