On Queen's 7th anniversary, Kangana Ranaut says she did it 'for money', thought 'it would never release'

Actor Kangana Ranaut, on the seventh anniversary of her breakthrough film Queen, has said that she took the project on 'for money', and had never anticipated it would be successful.

Queen, directed by Vikas Bahl, made over ₹200 crore worldwide in 2014. The film established Kangana as a leading actor.

In a series of tweets on Sunday, she wrote, "After almost a decade long struggle I was told I am too good an actor to be a Bollywood leading lady, curly hair and vulnerable voice made it worse, I signed Queen thinking this will never release, signed it for money with that money I went to film school in New York."

She continued, "In New York I studied screenwriting, directed a small film in California at the age of 24 which gave me a breakthrough in Hollywood, after seeing my work a big agency hired me as a director, I buried all my acting ambitions, did not have the courage to return to India."

Kangana revealed that she had bought a house in Los Angeles, and was looking forward to working in the US, but then, "Queen released, changed my life and Indian Cinema forever marked the Birth of a new leading lady and woman centric parallel cinema."

She concluded, "Queen is not just a film for me, it was an explosion of everything I ever deserved was kept away from me for 10 long years, everything came all at ones, it was overwhelming, I truly believe what is ours no one can take away hang in their you will get your due."

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Kangana won a National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance as a young woman who loses her inhibitions after a failed relationship. Kangana in a 2019 interview with Mid-Day had said that she felt her career in Bollywood was almost over before Queen. “It was the end of my career. Everything was over. And I was doing films that would further harm me. I was doing 10-minute roles, working in the launch-vehicle of a politician’s son. I did all of this to sponsor my education in the US," she'd said, adding that she made several significant creative contributions to the film.