Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut got a lesson on feminism Thursday after she called Urmila Matondkar a ‘soft porn actress’ on national television, reported Indian media.
Samajwadi Party member and actress Jaya Bachchan on Tuesday raised her voice in the Parliament regarding the ongoing slander and drug allegations levelled by a few against the Hindi film industry. Bachchan demanded the government to provide protection and put a ban on the unending bashing being faced by members of Bollywood.
Her comments have unleashed a tweetstorm of sexism and all-too-familiar misogyny directed against the MP with many calling her a "shameless lady" and appealing to actor and her husband Amitabh Bachchan to reign in his wife. Bachchan, meanwhile, found support from her fraternity members. One of them being Rangeela actress-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar.Matondkar who had joined Indian National Congress in 2019 and resigned the grand old party later, blaming "petty in-house politics" also countered Kangana Ranaut, who had earlier said that 99% of film industry stars are drug consumers.
"The entire country is facing the menace of drugs. Does she (Kangana) know Himachal is the origin of drugs? She should start from her own state," Matondkar said in an interview.
But things took an ugly turn on Wednesday when Ranaut showed up on national television. In her interview, she took digs at Matdonkar's remarks.
“Even Urmila, she is a soft porn star. I know it’s very blatant. But she isn’t known for her acting for sure. What is she known for? For doing soft porn right? If she can get a ticket, why won’t I get a ticket?”
Kangana said, “I saw one very derogatory interview given by Urmila Matondkar. The way she was talking about me, pulling faces, making a mockery about my struggles, attacking me on the fact that I am trying to appease BJP for a ticket. One doesn’t have to be a genius to figure for me it is not very difficult to get a ticket. Urmila is a soft porn star. She is not known for her acting for sure, what is she known for? For doing soft porns right. If she could get a ticket, why wouldn’t I get a ticket?”
Responding to the online criticism, Ranaut took to Twitter on Thursday and wrote: "Liberal brigade once virtually lynched a renowned writer in to silence for saying people like Sunny Leone should not be our role models, Sunny is accepted by the industry and entire India as an artist, suddenly fake feminists equating being a porn star to something derogatory."
Soon after this interview was aired, many film celebrities jumped in to Urmila Matondkar’s defence.