Kannada Star Ramya Says Kangana Ranaut’s ‘Emergency’ Was “Badly Made Film”
Kannada star Ramya has stated that ‘Emergency’ was a badly made film, hence it is no surprise that it tanked at the box office.
Kangana Ranaut’s ‘Emergency’ was one of the most awaited Bollywood films of 2024. After several delays, the movie finally released in theatres in January 2025. The Bollywood actress essayed the role of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. However, the film's fate turned out to be the same as Kangana Ranaut's previous movies such as ‘Tejas’ and ‘Dhakkad’. ‘Emergency’ tanked miserably at the box office, making just Rs 18.35 crore in India. As per several reports, ‘Emergency’, which Kangana directed herself, was made on a budget of Rs 60 crore. Hence the makers suffered heavy losses.
Kannada star Ramya has now stated that ‘Emergency’ was a badly made film, hence it is no surprise that it tanked at the box office.
“Emergency was a badly made film. Kangana Ranaut is a very talented actress and it has nothing to do with her as a person,” said Ramya while speaking at a panel discussion on Women in Cinema at the Bengaluru International Film Festival on Thursday.
“But that movie was bad and that is why the audience rejected it. Kangana also made Manikarnika and that was a hit because the content was good and the audience liked it,” she added.
‘Emergency’ had opened to mixed reviews by critics. However, the praise for Kangana Ranaut's performance was unanimous.
Apart from Kangana Ranaut, ‘Emergency’ also starred Anupam Kher, the late Satish Kaushik, Shreyas Talpade, Vishak Nair, Mahima Chaudhry and Milind Soman. The movie was backed by Zee Studios and Manikarnika Films.
The Hindi movie marked Kangana Ranaut’s first solo directorial venture. Before this, she had co-directed the film ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’ with Krish Jagarlamudi.
‘Emergency’ had released in cinemas on January 17, 2025. Earlier, the film was supposed to hit the theatres in September 2024. But it found difficulty in getting the clearance from CBFC, hence it had to be postponed.
The Kangana Ranaut directorial previously faced backlash from several Sikh groups for the portrayal of the Sikh community. Certain Sikh organisations such as Akal Takht and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, then demanded that the film should be banned.
The outrage was caused after certain glimpses from the film showed Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale to be in cahoots with Indira Gandhi. As per reports, Kangana Ranaut, who also served as the film’s producer, then accepted some cuts suggested by the censor board.
Earlier, Kangana had alleged that the film’s clearance was “stopped” due to threats made against CBFC members.
“There are rumours doing the rounds that our film, Emergency, has been granted Censor certificate. This is not true. In fact, our film had been cleared but certification has been stopped because many threats were coming in,” Kangana had said.
