It is not often that actors have to defend themselves against allegations of witchcraft. But that is what Kangana Ranaut had to do a decade ago after her ex, Adhyayan Suman, filed a case against her, accusing her of physical and emotional abuse, as well as practising ‘black magic’. In a recent podcast, Kangana opened up about the time and how many in the industry branded her a witch after the case.
Kangana Ranaut recalls ‘witch hunt’
On the ANI podcast, Kangana claimed she was subjected to severe character attacks at the time. Without naming Adhyayan, she said, “My ex who filed a case on me… and on top of that, kuch khade ho gaye ki ye to chudail hai. khoon peeti hai. Kaale kamre mein kaale parde lagake kaala jaadu karti hai (some people stood up and said she’s a witch, she drinks blood, she does black magic.) So there was a witch-hunting,” the actor said.
Adhyayan and Kangana dated around 2008-09, when they worked together on Raaz 2. But the case was filed later, in 2015. Recalling the time, Kangana said, “There was evident and very apparent witch-hunting happening at that time, and I was hardly 26 or 27 years old. So when this is how they’re going to treat me, why should I make them look good…I have no reason to make them look good.” The actor said she ‘was just doing the best I could do’ to weather that storm.
She added that during that difficult phase, she derived strength from her career achievements, particularly the box-office and critical success of her film, Queen. The 2014 comedy-drama, directed by Vikas Bahl and produced by Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Madhu Mantena, is one of the rare Hindi films fronted by a woman to gross over ₹100 crore net domestically.
Adhyayan Suman’s allegations
In 2016, Adhyayan spoke up about why he pressed charges against Kangana seven years after they broke up. “For a very long time, I hid the fact that she had been physically violent because if I had told them, my mum would have perhaps lost it. So I had to hide that. But eventually I had to come out and share it because the agony, the torture and the frustration were too much to bear,” he told Bollywood Journalist.
Kangana Ranaut’s career
Kangana Ranaut, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, made her debut with Gangster in 2006, and went on to deliver acclaimed performances in Fashion, Queen, and Tanu Weds Manu Returns. A four-time National Award winner and Padma Shri recipient, she currently serves as a Member of Parliament from Mandi. She was last seen in Emergency, a film she also directed, in which she portrayed former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
