Kangana Ranaut Fails To Explain Why A Senior Actress Couldn’t Play An 80-Year Old 'Alien' In Teju

Anurag Kashyap recently brought up the fact that Kangana Ranaut was to play an 80-year-old woman in Teju, a film which was going to be her directorial and production debut. Anurag subtly reminded Twitterati that Kangana, who claims she rejected Saand Ki Aankh for senior actresses to get a chance to play their age, was actually going to play an elderly woman herself.

Kangana's team replied to Anurag by saying that Teju was going to be a children's film like The BFG, and that the character of the old woman was going to be created in VFX as she wasn't even a human being. They added that Kangana simply wanted to give her identity to Teju.

The tweet by Kangana's team read, "Mr Kashyap Teju was a children film inspired by The BFG, Teju had to be created in VFX infact she wasn't even a human being. Kangana mentioned in one her interviews Teju is an alien, She wanted to give her identity to Teju, how desperate can you get!!"

Continuing to rubbish Anurag's Saand Ki Aankh claims, they added in another tweet, "On SKA Kangana clearly told Vikas Bahl that elderly women will suit the subject of SKA, please stop acting so childish."

ALSO READ: Kangana Ranaut Was Set To Play 80-Year-Old In Teju, Reminds Anurag Kashyap

In September 2019, Kangana's sister Rangoli Chandel was the first to claim that Kangana had wanted the makers of Saand Ki Aankh to cast senior actresses like Neena Gupta and Ramya Krishnan in the movie, and that she did had not accepted the film for this reason. "She clearly told them (makers of Saand Ki Aankh) to cast older woman and fight ageaism and sexism in Bollywood," Rangoli had tweeted.

It is hard to see how Kangana playing an 80-year-old woman using all available creative resources such as VFX, prosthetics, and body double, is different from Taapsee Pannu and Bhumi Pednekar playing 60-year-olds using make-up and prosthetics, if the point is that senior actresses are losing out on work.

After all, Teju was about an 80-year old woman, and by Kangana's own stand on Saand Ki Aankh, she wanted senior actresses to have opportunities (the fact that this is disputed by Anurag Kashyap is another matter.)

ALSO READ: Kangana Ranaut Was Ready To Do Saand Ki Aankh If It Had A Solo Lead As A Young Woman: Anurag Kashyap

Kangana's team argued - Teju was going to be a children's film, that they were going to go heavy on VFX - none of these address why a senior actress should not have been given the chance to play the lead in Teju. Can't senior actresses be part of children's films about aliens, made with VFX and prosthetics?

The views expressed by this author are not from the perspective of exploring the ageism debate, but from that of exploring double-standards.

Also, this author could not find the interview wherein Kangana has mentioned that Teju is an alien, and would be grateful if this interview could be made available, however unrelated that point may be.

On SKA Kangana clearly told Vikas Bahl that elderly women will suit the subject of SKA, please stop acting so childish 🙏
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— Team Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) July 25, 2020