The excitement and buzz surrounding Prakash Kovelamudi's latest film Judgemental Hai Kya ran into a dampener after Kangana Ranaut went on the warpath with a journalist at a press conference for 'The Wakhra Song' from the film. With Rajkummar Rao, Kanika Dhillon, Ekta Kapoor and Kovelamudi present, Ranaut accused the journalist of bad-mouthing her and running a massive 'smear' campaign against her 'brand'.
The fire started even before the journalist could ask a question. As soon as he introduced himself, Ranaut launched into him saying, "You have become our enemy. You write such dirty things about me. How many things? How do you think up such things?"
When the journalist tried to defend himself, Ranaut went a step further saying, "You bashed my film, Manikarnika. Have I made a mistake by making a film? You are calling me a jingoistic person for making a film on nationalism.”
Denying the accusation, the journalist replied that it was unfair of Ranaut to accuse him from the podium. He said, "You cannot intimidate a journalist because you are at a position of power here. It’s just not fair." When Ranaut maintained her stance adding that he messaged her and had lunch with her in the van during an interview for Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi (2019), he rejected the claims and asked the actress to share the screenshots of alleged texts.
While the rest of the cast seemed visibly embarrassed, it took the thinking of producer Ekta Kapoor to step in and try to calm the growing tensions.
This is not the first time Ranaut has had a run-in with the media. The actress had slammed a journalist during a song launch from her film, Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi.
When the press conference continued, the actress tried to justify her statement saying she was not trying to 'intimidate' anyone, but simply expressing her dissatisfaction at what had happened.
Ranaut's sister, Rangoli Chandel also took to Twitter to launch a double-pronged attack at the journalist, repeating the accusation of a 'smear campaign'. Chandel seems to be accusing people of 'hating' Ranaut because of her open support for prime minister Narendra Modi.
Judgemental Hai Kya is set to be released on 26 July.