Kangana Ranaut says 'mental' and 'psycho' were terms used to shame her

Bollywood actors Kangana Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao have joined hands for the quirky comedy film ‘Mental Hai Kya’ known for its dark humour posters.

While Rajkummar Rao has said that he decided to take up the project because of its “unique script” but Kangana said that her reason was personal.

“The way my life unfolded in the past few years, I realised there was so much stigma attached to being different,” she told Indian daily mid-day.

“‘Mental’ or ‘psycho’ were the terms used to shame me, but these can’t be used casually as swear words.

“When this script came along, I knew I had to do it to break the stigma around it. High time we made individuality aspirational.”

Ranaut said that the film deals with mental illness and hallucinations, but producer Ekta Kapoor decided to take the route with the quirky posters.

When asked how will she walk the tightrope of depicting mental illness, Ranaut assured, “We won’t show people as pitiable, sympathy-seeking characters. We’ll portray the issue with sensitivity. The film takes a stand against equating individuality with madness.”

Producer Ekta Kapoor increased audience interest by sharing quirky looks of Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao from the promotional photo shoot.

The title of the film only gives out a lot about the characters played by Rajkummar and Kangana.

“Mental Hai Kya celebrates the beauty in imperfections and in being different and shouts out sanity is overrated,” producer Ekta Kapoor said in a statement.

Directed by National Award winning director Prakash Kovelamudi and written by Ra.One fame Kanika Dhillon, the film is yet to be shot but the makers have already started promoting it extensively.

The film also reunites the “Queen” stars, but is their first collaboration together with Ekta Kappoor and Ranaut says they have a fair share of creative differences.

“We are like-minded people who know it’s not going to be hunky-dory. I am not a sulkpot. That’s how Raj and I have come this far in life. Strong opinions don’t mean either of us is going to act like we know it all.”