“I am not ashamed of anything, not my past, not my affairs, not my body and most definitely not my desire. So slut-shaming won’t work,” said Kangana Ranaut in a public statement soon after there were talks about Hrithik Roshan sharing private emails and pictures that she had allegedly sent to him during their “courtship days”. Incidentally, this is exactly what he had threatened her with in the legal notice he had sent to her. This spat is fast turning out to be one of the most twisted ones ever seen in Bollywood — an industry that is no stranger to scandals and clandestine affairs.
From close sources it has been learnt that a while ago Hrithik had invited some entertainment editors to his home and showed them the private emails and photos that Kangana had sent to him. There are also whispers about him sharing the same with her former team as well.
A senior editor, on condition of anonymity said, “So far Hrithik had our attention and sympathy. But now, his desperation to prove his innocence has become ungallant. Kangana is not wrong in describing Hrithik’s attempts to discredit her as ‘slut-shaming’ It is a prevalent kiss-and-tell mentality in the industry. Kangana has gone through it before when Aditya Pancholi gave the press lurid details of his association with her. She fought back then. She will fight back now. She is not afraid of being tarnished.”
On April 6, Kangana’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui approached the commissioner of police, Dattaray Padsalgikar seeking Hrithik’s arrest for allegedly circulating her personal photographs and emails to the media and “willfully outraging” her modesty. His letter to the CP alleged that Hrithik had “criminal intentions of damaging (his) client’s reputation and to willfully impute in-chastity to her.”
Kangana’s statement further added,
“Though my legal team is taking strict actions against blackmailing and threatening me, but as a girl it doesn’t scare me. You won’t get a sorry by threatening me or circulating my love poems, letters or images…. If they want an apology then they have to come to the point, beating about the bush won’t help, me and my team are eager to help as hurting sentiments isn’t our intention.”
Hrithik, who had always been seen as a quintessential gentleman, has been displaying his aggressive side ever since his alleged affair with Kangana became public. First, in a tweet hinted at her, he referred to the Pope in a casually offensive manner for which he had to eventually apologise. Just a few days ago he forcefully seized a photographer’s camera and kept it with him for an entire day, returning it only when threatened with police action.
This is not the first time Hrithik has had a controversial link-up either. In fact, when he was still married to Sussanne, it was heard that he had confessed to her about his much-talked-about affair with Kites co-star Barbari Mori. Those close to him said that the star felt he was “doing the right thing” by not keeping his wife in the dark. Even as he was counting days to his wedding with Sussanne, he was said to be involved with a leading actress.
His war with Kangana shows no signs of fizzling out. And those who know the two well enough, say that no matter what move Hrithik makes, Kangana will fight this to the end. A filmmaker, who has worked with her in the past, vouches for her tenacity saying, “Once she sets her mind on something she doesn’t assess the damage — she just goes for the kill. Her straightforward nature has not gone down well with many powerful people in the industry, but she doesn’t care. She is not intimidated by power nor daunted by being deprived of it.”
