Kangana Ranaut Makes It Very Hard To Like The ‘Simran’ (2017) Teaser

Kangana Ranaut has been more in the news lately for her off-screen antics and controversies than any legitimate film roles. Her last film, 'Rangoon' sank at the Box Office unexpectedly and surprising critics and pundits. Since then, Ranaut has remained relevant in the industry with gossip and scandal. With her latest release, there's hope that may change.

The 'Simran' teaser acts as a sizzle reel of crazy Kangana moments, and it's annoying.

Here is the official synopsis of the film, as per IMDB.

A Gujarati housekeeping lady in the US allows ambition to get the better of her & gets involved in a world of crime. Simran is a racy, fun film with Kangana Ranaut playing the titular role.

It's an interesting premise for sure, but the Teaser showcases none if it. Honestly speaking, the trailer further fuels the irritation and annoyance that I, and I'm sure many others, have had with Kangana during these controversy fuelled attempts at staying relevant.

Ranaut was never by any means a top name in Bollywood, at least based on merit. Launched by the Bhatts and Vishesh Films, Ranaut's career has mostly stayed afloat due to her super model good looks and association with mainstream producers. Her biggest respite came in 2014 with th eunexpected success of 'Queen', which seemed to bring out the best in her as an actress .

It proved to be a one time occurrence, as all her films since then have failed, both commercially and critically. 'Simran', is only worth a second look given the makers of the film themselves, and less to do with Ranaut as the protagonist.

'Simran' is directed by Hansal Mehta and is written by Apurva Asrani, the same makers responsible for the sleeper critical darling of 2015, 'Aligarh'. Mehta and Asrani has consistently proven themselves to be ace storytellers, with a fine grasp of character development and compelling stories that are as emotional as they are gripping. Having cast Ranaut in their production makes me feel, solely through my faith in those two people, that they see something in Ranaut beyond the nonsense that she's become known for in the last two years.

While it's completely unjustifiable for me, or any Bollywood audience to react to and discriminate against an actress for her off-screen antics than the merit of her work, Ranaut makes it very hard to do so. When an actor, any actor, makes her career more based on branding herself as a scandal queen, or an outspoken industry shamer, exposing the truths and realities of Bollywood, it makes it difficult to convincingly separate those aspects of the actor from her work. There are obviously exceptions, but in Ranaut's case, most of her news-worthy appearances have rarely been backed up by as successful on-screen film performances. In which case, I would've been fine with her craziness off screen.

So far, Ranaut's only critically appreciated films have been ones in which she's been completely off the wall as a feisty character ('Tanu Weds Manu'), or a more subtle and repressed personality ('Queen'). And she seems to be imitating a bit of both in this brief teaser of 'Simran'.

The teaser is literally just a bunch of scenes of her smiling, laughing, giggling, and being ridiculously silly on-screen. The whole thing comes off as a very forced attempt to be endearing, but falls flat on its face, because all you can see her as, is the firebrand in interviews spouting venom about Bollywood from the past 2 years.

'Simran' releases on September 15th. Starring Kangana Rant and is directed by Hansal Mehta.