Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has released two videos in which she targets journalists, claiming that some are “termites”, “pseudo-liberal”, “treacherous” and “attend press conferences only to get free food.”
While many people had been expecting an apology, the Queen star only added fuel to fire. “I beg to you please ban me, because I don’t want you guys to make money out of me. It’s the biggest favour you can do for me,” she says in the videos sent out via her sister and manager Rangoli Chandel’s Twitter account.
This comes in the wake of the Entertainment Journalists’ Guild of Indian announcing that a ban on Ranaut would be active until she apologised for a public row with a reporter during the press meet of her latest film, Judgementall Hai Kya . The Twitter posts come just a day after Ekta Kapoor’s banner Balaji Telefilms expressed regret over Ranaut’s behaviour and apologised for the same.
In the video, accompanying a tweet saying she is suffering from a high fever, Kangana starts off by saying that there are both good and bad people in media, and that she has found good friends and those who have had a role in her success. She then goes on to say that a section of them attack the country’s pride and integrity. “They spread false rumours, treacherous views and are anti-national. They all sell out, yet there’s no punishment for them inspite of them being a threat,” she added.
In her rant, she also referred to the Press Trust of India journalist with whom she had a showdown at her film’s press meet: “This journalist makes fun of my serious campaigns such as me speaking against animal cruelty and on plastic ban. He also ridiculed my film [ Manikarnika , based on the life of Rani Lakshmibai] that was about a patriot for the country.”
Ranaut also claimed that some journalists don’t have any relevant comments or arguments to make, and are devoid of any journalistic identity. “They have no work to do, how can they call themselves journalists? If I call myself an actor, I should have some work. They just come to press conferences to eat free food. These people have suddenly formed a guild that isn’t even recognised to ban me! Even Rs 50-60 is enough is buy them out.”
