Kangana Ranaut is a renowned actress who has starred in several Bollywood blockbusters, including Gangster, Woh Lamhe… and Queen. She formally joined the BJP in 2024 and won the Lok Sabha seat from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi.

Ranaut recently made headlines with her controversial remarks on the Jantar Mantar protests over the NEET paper leak, describing videos of protesters as “puke-inducing” and labelling Gen Z as “Generation Gutter”.

Ranaut was born in a Rajput family on March 23, 1987, in Bhambla, in the Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh. Her father, Amardeep Ranaut, was a businessman, and her mother Asha was a schoolteacher. She had an elder sister, Rangoli Chandel, and a younger brother, Akshat.

She completed her schooling at the DAV School in Chandigarh and initially wanted to become a doctor as per her parents’ wishes. She attended the Science College in Shimla and prepared for the All-India Pre-Medical Test.

However, Kangana failed in her chemistry exam in college, causing her to reconsider her career. Although her family disapproved of her decision, she moved to Delhi at the age of 16 and went on to pursue a career in modelling and acting.

Kangana pursued her modelling career after the Elite Modelling Agency spotted her, but she got bored of it and joined the Asmita Theatre Group, where she was trained by renowned theatre director Arvind Gaur. She also honed her skills as a Kathak dancer.

Ranaut made her debut with Gangster, for which she won the Filmfare Best Debut Female Award. She went on to win four National Awards, four Filmfare Awards and a Padma Shri.