Will Kangana Ranaut's 'Emergency' Add To BJP's Offensive?

Kangana Ranaut is, once more, angry. On June 25, addressing a few reporters, she said, “Those who are making a big deal about the Constitution these days in the Parliament—shouting, doing nautanki [drama]—their black deeds will come out on 6th September.” She had chosen a strategic date for her outburst: June 25, the day Indira Gandhi declared Emergency in the country 49 years ago, suspending civil liberties, censoring the press, undermining the Constitution. The other date, September 6, referred to Ranaut’s next release, Emergency, where she plays Gandhi. Besides acting in it, she’s also produced and directed the movie. 

Over the last few days, several Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders have invoked the Emergency to attack the Congress. “Those who imposed Emergency,” wrote Prime Minister Narendra Modi on X, “have no right to profess love for our Constitution.” The Constitution has been in news for quite some time, including becoming an election issue—the INDIA bloc leaders accused the BJP of wanting to change it—so the saffron party has launched an offensive to counter that narrative. On June 25, the BJP said it’d start a nationwide program to “expose” the “Congress’ party’s authoritarianism” and “disregard for the Constitution”.

Even the neutral parties condemned the Emergency: President Droupadi Murmu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. And Ranaut’s film will ensure that, even after a few months, the show will go on. 

Ranaut hasn’t released the movie’s trailer yet—only a short teaser exists online—but knowing her politics, and revulsion for the Congress, there’s little doubt about its tone or tenor. Like Akshay Kumar, she has used cinema to further the BJP’s politics. Her directorial debut, Manikarnika (2019), a jingoistic period drama with Hindutva undertones, was an old whine in a new bottle. In Tejas (2023), playing an Indian Air Force officer, she prevented the terrorists from destroying the Ram Mandir. Her Thalaivii (2021), a hagiography of Jayalalithaa, lacked nuance and admired the politician’s authoritarianism.  

“Everybody knows how much I had to struggle to make this film,” said Ranaut in the same exchange with reporters. “They stopped my funds. I had to mortgage my jewellery and house to make this movie.” Even though she didn’t explain who “they” were, it’s quite clear that Emergency means a lot to Ranaut. Because this could be a make or break film for her—a last chance to salvage her fading acting career.

Her last box-office hit, Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015), came out around a decade ago. Since then, she’s worked in 11 movies, and some of them—including charged ‘political’ dramas—have been box-office disasters, doing record low business. Tejas, Dhaakad, and Thalaivii earned less than Rs 4.5 crore in India—many Bollywood films earn much more than that on the first day of release.  

It’s not as if she hasn’t tried. She starred in a Tamil drama, Chandramukhi 2 (2023), which flopped. She produced a film, Tiku Weds Shiru (2023), which was panned by the critics. But more importantly, her shrill propaganda fares have failed to produce any impact, showing it’s not as easy to game the Indian audiences.

Ranaut began planning for Emergency at a different time—when the BJP juggernaut didn’t look like stopping and Rahul Gandhi (or the Gandhi family) looked like pushovers—but that scenario has changed post the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Ranaut did win the seat in Mandi, but, as an actor, it’ll take a lot more for her to win over the audiences across the country.