Kangana Ranaut recently shared a memory from her early days in the film industry. She spoke about an incident when Salman Khan gave her a compliment that stayed with her for a long time. This happened before she made her debut in films.
In a conversation with Smita Prakash, Kangana explained how she met Salman Khan when she was around 16 to 17 years old. At that time, her film Gangster had not yet been released. She recalled, “When I was struggling in my very early days. You know I met Salman (Khan) through somebody. And I was hardly 16-17, Gangster handn’t happened and he met and he saw me.. And he said she is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s heroine. That’s what he said. He said you should go and meet Sanjay Leela Bhansali. I think that’s a very big compliment because he has done Black and I have huge curly hair and all. So, he said he will see you and sign you right away. And I said thank you.”
Following his suggestion, she went to meet Sanjay Leela Bhansali with her portfolio. She described the meeting in detail, saying, “So, that particular day I went to meet Sanjay Leela Bhansali. And I had my portfolio with various pictures. Koi Indian mein, koi western mein..you know how those struggling… So, I went to Sanjay sir’s house and his mother was also there. I said sir, Salman has asked me to meet you. He said yes yes…sit. He asked me what is this. I said this is my portfolio file. And he went through my pictures and looking at my face. He said you look different in every picture. What is your face like. He said if we straighten your hair you look different, we put wig you look different. I said is that good or bad.. and then he keep looking at my pictures and said you will know.”
She later added, “He didn’t obviously sign me… He actually meant that maybe if you make it, you’ll know”. Over time, Bhansali also acknowledged this moment. Kangana shared, “Now whenever Sanjay sir met me, he always remembered that I wish I had listened to Salman.”
On the work front, Kangana Ranaut’s Queen sequel has been in discussion. Reports suggest that the film may not be titled Queen 2 but could be called Queen Forever. The story is expected to explore themes of self discovery and independence, with her character shown as a city based woman going through a personal journey across India.