Kangana Ranaut has taken a break from her political career to promote her new film, Manoj Tambale’s crime thriller Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata. Based on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the film will see her play a nurse at Cama Hospital. At the trailer launch in Mumbai on Tuesday, the actor-turned-politician detailed how her political career helped her play the part accurately.

“We live in a bubble and are so far away from reality. That’s why when I entered the life of this character, I realized how crucial it was for me to maintain some distance from the film industry,” said Kangana. “As a politician, I got the chance to mingle with a lot of common people in the last couple of years. I may consider myself a great actor, but I’d be so incompetent in this role if I’m not in touch with reality,” she added.

Kangana Ranaut entered politics when she successfully contested the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections under a Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket and emerged as the winner from her constituency of Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. Serving as a Member of Parliament (MP), she’s maintained that stepping down from the pedestal of an A-list movie star to meet people on ground has been gruelling, but also immensely rewarding. At the trailer launch, Kangana pointed out that her experiences even seeped into her acting process and made it far more seamless.

“You can live in your bubble, gulp down protein shake, and hit the gym every morning, but you can’t figure out how an actual life is lived. I come from a middle class background, but still it’s been a long time since I’ve been in the film industry, since I debuted as a teenager. I wanted to do a kadi tapasya by playing this part,” confessed Kangana.

“This woman wakes up at 4 am every day, fills water for her family, and takes the local train to her workplace. On her way back, she buys vegetables and chops them on the train. She is subjected to so many rebukes throughout the day. She has to clean the excretion of patients. Yet when she smiles on her way back home, I feel very small in comparison,” admitted the actor.

Kangana Ranaut could vividly recall where she exactly was on November 26, 2008 when terrorists struck multiple parts of South Mumbai. She was a struggler back then, having debuted only a couple of years before that with Anurag Basu’s 2006 romantic thriller Gangster, which was produced by Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt’s banner Vishesh Films. Shahana Goswami had also just broken through with Abhishek Kapoor’s 2008 musical Rock On!!, and was working with Vishesh Films on the 2009 musical romance Jashn.

“Shahana Goswami had gotten a house in Yari Road (Andheri West, Mumbai) somewhere. She asked us to come over and have a party. We were partying when suddenly, Bhatt sahab walked in and asked us to switch on the television. It’s then that we found out, but we were like, ‘Ab kya party karein ya ghar jayein?‘ But Bhatt sahab said it’s better if we headed home. We were just a bunch of 20-25-year-olds having a party, till Bhatt sahab broke it to us. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten to know,” recounted Kangana.

At the trailer launch, director Manoj Tambale revealed he was roaming around with the script of Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata for seven years and had almost put it on the backburner. But it was only when ace casting director Mukesh Chhabra pitched the script to Kangana Ranaut that the script became a film. The shoot began in January this year, with the film ready to release within six months.

Kangana thanked Chhabra for “opening many such doors” for promising talent like Tambale. She recalled that Chhabra not only messaged her, but also “insisted 10 times” to do the part. Kangana eventually not only gave her nod to the film, but also decided to co-produce it under her banner Manikarnika Films.

“When the script first came to me, it was called Nurses of Cama,” recalled the actor. But after Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave Indian workers the title of “Bharat bhhagya viddhaata” last year, Kangana decided to name the film that. “But we found out the title is already registered with John sir,” she said, referring to John Abraham, her co-star from Sanjay Gupta’s 2013 action crime drama Shootout at Wadala.

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“It becomes very difficult then because a lot of people don’t give away their title usually,” said Kangana. But when she called up John, it turned out to be a fairly smooth process. “Within a day, he gave the title to us without any charges. So, we’re very thankful to John sir,” added Kangana.

Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata, also starring Girija Oak and Smita Tambe, is slated to release in cinemas on June 12.