Gangster: Anurag Basu’s film set the template of a Kangana heroine: nervy, boozy, gleefully hazardous. The acting chops were typically rough for a debut appearance. But the freshness soared
Life…in a Metro: Negotiating between career and heart, Kangana’s Neha was a fetching highlight of Basu’s city-life collage. The film teased out new dimensions in a budding star.Fashion: Kangana brought an outsider’s edge to the part of Shonali Gujral, an arrogant supermodel wracked by abuse and heartbreak. The performance fetched her her first National Award.Tanu Weds Manu: Comic, indecisive, quietly seeking… Kangana cranked up the smalltown weirdness that would come to define much of the last decade in Hindi cinema. A third entry is in the offingQueen: Vikas Bahl’s film, about a grieving woman who embarks alone on her honeymoon, was a rollicking Kangana show. There were a few excessive touches. The rest was wonderfully measuredSimran: The manic energy of a chase film was matched by Kangana’s penchant for physical comedy. Not a fully realized performance, yet hilariously swirly and droll.Panga: Kangana rooted the underdog arc of her character — a returning kabaddi player in Bhopal — in everyday realism. As Jaya Nigam, her disappointments felt genuine, her victories earned