Actor-politician Kangana Ranaut has once again sparked debate online, this time calling out fashion designer Masaba Gupta while reacting to the ongoing controversy around composer A. R. Rahman. Sharing a deeply personal incident from her past, Kangana alleged that Masaba once refused to associate her brand with the actor during a significant religious visit.
“Designers who once begged later disappeared”
Taking to Instagram Stories on Saturday, Kangana claimed that several big designers who once sought her support during campaigns later distanced themselves from her completely. According to her, they stopped sending clothes to her stylist, cut off communication, and avoided even mentioning her publicly.
She framed this experience as part of a larger pattern of prejudice she says she has faced within the fashion and film industries.
The Masaba Gupta saree incident
Kangana then singled out one moment that, she said, stayed with her. She recalled wearing a Masaba saree while travelling to Ram Janmabhoomi. According to Kangana, Masaba allegedly told her stylist that she did not want Kangana to visit Ram Janmabhoomi wearing her saree.
By the time the message reached her, Kangana said she had already left Lucknow for Ayodhya and could not change outfits.
“I felt so humiliated and degraded that I quietly cried in my car,” Kangana wrote, adding that later the designer asked her stylist not to mention either her name or the brand publicly.
“What about their own hate and prejudices?”
Linking the incident to the current Rahman controversy, Kangana questioned what she called selective outrage. She accused industry figures of speaking about divisiveness while ignoring their own biases and past actions.
Her remarks immediately reignited online discussions about politics, personal beliefs, and how openly celebrities are accepted — or rejected — within elite creative circles.
A complicated personal history
Kangana also pointed out that she once shared a cordial relationship with Masaba, even dancing at her wedding to producer Madhu Mantena in 2015. The couple later divorced in 2019. Masaba went on to marry actor Satyadeep Mishra in 2023.
What’s next for Kangana?
Kangana was last seen in Emergency, where she portrayed former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. While the film sparked conversation, it failed to make a strong mark at the box office.
Looking ahead, Kangana is set to make her Hollywood debut with the horror drama Blessed Be the Evil, co-starring Tyler Posey and Scarlet Rose Stallone, and directed by Anurag Rudra.
Final words
Kangana Ranaut’s latest statements once again blur the line between personal hurt and public debate. Whether her claims lead to responses from those named remains to be seen, but her comments have reopened conversations about prejudice, power, and quiet exclusions within India’s fashion and film worlds.
