Kangana Ranaut defends 'soft porn star' jibe at actor, says 'she's comfortable'

Actor and BJP leader Kangana Ranaut has stood her ground over her remark calling actor Urmila Matondkar a 'soft porn star', saying that she was "comfortable in that role". Ranaut, who has been fielded by the BJP from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi, also underscored that terms like "porn star" and "soft porn" were not inherently objectionable.

"If these actresses are comfortable with words such as tandoori murgi, item girl, Sheila ki Jawani, why is it seen as something violating? It is a matter of fact, if they are comfortable with this, why do you want to shame them? I personally do not think I had any intention of shaming her (Urmila Matondkar) because she is very comfortable in that role," Ranaut said when asked about her controversial remark in 2020 about the actor.

Explaining the rationale behind her remark, Ranaut said, "I personally believe that I belong to that balanced cinema artiste tribe. I have never done item numbers. So, all I said was that if she could join a party (Congress) with her kind of filmography, then I have a more ravishing body of work."

A 2020 video of Ranaut has recently gone viral in which she is heard calling fellow actor Urmila Matondkar a "soft porn star". The development came amid a controversy over Congress leader Supriya Shrinate's purported objectionable remarks on Ranaut.

The 'Queen' actor also said that nowhere in the world porn stars get as much respect as in India, and cited the example of Sunny Leone.

"Are 'soft porn' or 'porn star' objectionable terms? No. It is just a word that is not acceptable socially. The amount of respect porn stars get in India, just ask Sunny Leone, nowhere else in the world is that the case," Ranaut further said.