Kangana Ranaut was once a box-office powerhouse, delivering landmark smashes. Yet she hasn’t had a clean hit in nearly a decade.
Kangana Ranaut was once considered the best female actor of her time in Hindi film. In terms of sheer talent, nothing has changed over the last decade. Nonetheless, a notable disparity exists between her stature and her recent box office achievements. Despite her numerous National Awards and earlier accomplishments, Kangana has yet to achieve box office success in nearly a decade. Early indications suggest that her most recent release, Emergency, will also fail to deviate from the trend.
When Kangana Ranaut was the ‘Queen’ of Bollywood.
From 2011 until 2015, Kangana could do nothing wrong. The actor appeared in several films that did not feature a ‘larger’ male star, yet all performed well. Between Queen, Tanu Weds Manu, and Tanu Weds Manu Returns, she shattered the record for the highest-grossing female-led Bollywood film three times. No other celebrity had done this before. Nobody has tried this since. Even so, this moment was destined to be her peak. Most film fans expected the actor, who was 28 at the time, to continue to improve. However, a string of bad luck, stupid decisions, and scandals marred her succeeding films.
Kangana Ranaut’s films from the previous ten years
Kangana has appeared in 11 films since the success of Tanu Weds Manu Returns, the most recent of which was Emergency. None of these have done well at the box office. All but one have been flops. In fact, her last two releases, Tejas and Dhaakad, were considered disasters due to exceedingly low sales. Kangana’s sole film that has done well in the last decade is Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi. The 2019 biopic of Rani Laxmibai grossed ₹92 crore nett in India and ₹133 crore globally. Despite having a substantial budget, the film failed to become a major hit and achieved only moderate earnings at the box office.
Kangana Ranaut’s recent slim streak
While a number of Kangana’s films performed well at the box office before to the epidemic (most notably Manikarnika and Panga), her films have underperformed since Covid. Prior to Emergency, her last three films, Tejas, Dhaakad, and Thalaivi, were all big box office disappointments. The three films had a combined budget of ₹255 crore, however their joint box office collections are only ₹17 crore, meaning the box office revenue alone has been 93% less than the investment. Dhaakad, an action picture with a budget of ₹85 crore, had the lowest global earnings, earning only ₹3 crore.
Can Emergency turn the tide?
Emergency was supposed to be Kangana Ranaut’s greatest project. Kangana had entire creative control over her film, and the subject matter was pertinent. However, the final output was less than the sum of its components. Emergency, despite having an estimated budget of ₹60 crore, has only raised ₹15 crore in its first six days. The movie is unlikely to recover its costs, further highlighting Kangana’s disappointing track record.
