Kangana Ranaut says entering ‘toxic’ Bollywood is like breaching Great Wall of China: 'A place with no love'

Actor Kangana Ranaut has said that the Hindi film industry is ‘toxic’ and lacks ‘empathy’ as compared to the Tamil film industry. Kangana will soon be seen in her south Indian debut, the J Jayalalithaa biopic Thalaivii, due out in theatres on Friday.

In an interview, she said that breaking into Bollywood is like breaching the Great Wall of China, and admitted that because she is still new in south India, she has a ‘very superficial’ view of the regional film industries. 

She said in an interaction with Tried & Refused Productions on YouTube, “What is very striking about regional cinema is that at least they find some common ground. They're chameleons, and that's something that they resonate with… Whereas in Hindi films, because we've all migrated to Mumbai, there is so much diversity there, yet there is a bit of tension always… Everybody wants to pull everybody down, that's not helping at all. It's become such a toxic place that somehow, nobody is happy for another person, and we are not able to find a common ground we are able to identify with.”

She said that finding common ground is crucial to avoid ‘getting carried away with petty human emotions’. She added, “A place where there is no love, no empathy, no sense of camaraderie, no sense of compassion, you can only imagine how toxic that place is going to be. Whereas regional cinema is going higher and higher, and we are also seeking some kind of place (in an industry) where people are so wonderful to each other. I hope it remains like that and too many people coming in here don't ruin it.”

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Kangana said that when she entered Bollywood, there was no proper process in place. “There were no casting agents, there were no OTTs to launch actors, it was a very difficult time,” she said, adding that she was ‘desperate’ and in a ‘do-or-die’ situation and after having ‘closed all doors', she had no choice but to fight her way into ‘the Wall of China of the film industry’.