Whenever she appears, whenever she talks, she is bound to rule the headlines. If not her, at least her sister. Kangana Ranaut, whose fans affectionately call her 'The Queen of Bollywood', is known more for her controversies than her films and performances these days. It is a pity since Kangana Ranaut is a terrific actress who has three National Awards for her performances, a rarity for an actress in her generation. Unfortunately, Kangana's off-screen antics and statements take away the spotlight from her movies, and sometimes, even put them in a bad light. Judgementall Hai Kya: A Photographer Accuses the Makers of Kangana Ranaut's Movie of Plagiarising Her Art With Others.

While Kangana's career has been shrouded in controversies right from the start, she has been making some on her own since 2017. The fire started raging from that press conference when she referred to Hrithik Roshan as that 'silly ex', leading to months of debates over 'were they, weren't they' lovers. While Hrithik Roshan maintained a dignified silence on her, occasionally breaking it to give interviews to the select media, Kangana and her sister, Rangoli Chandel, attacked him, his family and anyone who supported him, verbally at any given moment.

Not to forget, the many accusations that she faces of interfering in a film's work. While it was all speculations for Rangoon, Kangana managed to get writer's credit for Simran, much to film's original writer, Apurva Asrani's ire, and later director's credit for Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, shunting Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi aside.

More recently, Kangna made more headlines when she had a spat with a journalist during a song launch of her last film, Judgementall Hai Kya. This led to her and her sister accusing certain section of media of being anti-nationals and pro-Pakistani. Why? Because they didn't favour Manikarnika, and that, for the sisters, tantamount to treason. Their controversial stand led to entertainment journalists' guild to ban her, which didn't stand strong for long. And we are not even getting into her frequent digs to nepotism and Karan Johar. Judgementall Hai Kya Movie Review: Kangana Ranaut and Rajkummar Rao Liven Up This Trippy Potpourri of Dark Humour and Intriguing Suspense.

So while the 'Queen; continues, and will do so ahead, to make controversial statements about anything under the sun, has her films benefitted from the publicity? Not quite.

Let's see how Kangana's career has fared from 2017. The first film in this period is Vishal Bharadwaj's World War II drama, Rangoon. Despite having big names like Kangana, Saif Ali Khan and Shahid Kapoor in the cast and getting generally positive reviews, Rangoon disappointed at the box office. The movie only collected Rs 20.68 crore in India.

Then came Simran, the movie for which Kangana Ranaut claimed writing credits for. And despite her efforts to polish the film and make it 'better', Simran, directed by Hansal Mehta, tanked at the box office.

Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, released earlier this year, was the biggest release of Kangana, not just in this period and also of her entire career. Promoted as her directorial debut, Kangana claims that she had reshot nearly 60% of the film, after alleging she and her producers didn't like what Krish had shot.

Even though she herself waxed eloquently about her own film, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi was met with mixed reviews. However, at the box office, the movie became her second highest-grossing movie after Tanu Weds Manu Returns, but it only grossed Rs 92 crore. Which isn't bad per se, but considering the high production costs involved (mostly due to reshoots), the movie's budget ballooned to Rs 130 crore, as per certain reports. Looking from those terms, Manikarnika is far from the success that she and her fans are claiming it to be.

Then came Simran, the movie for which Kangana Ranaut claimed writing credits for. And despite her efforts to polish the film and make it 'better', Simran, directed by Hansal Mehta, tanked at the box office.

Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, released earlier this year, was the biggest release of Kangana, not just in this period and also of her entire career. Promoted as her directorial debut, Kangana claims that she had reshot nearly 60% of the film, after alleging she and her producers didn't like what Krish had shot.

Even though she herself waxed eloquently about her own film, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi was met with mixed reviews. However, at the box office, the movie became her second highest-grossing movie after Tanu Weds Manu Returns, but it only grossed Rs 92 crore. Which isn't bad per se, but considering the high production costs involved (mostly due to reshoots), the movie's budget ballooned to Rs 130 crore, as per certain reports. Looking from those terms, Manikarnika is far from the success that she and her fans are claiming it to be.

Finally, there is Judgementall Hai Kya, directed by Prakash Kolemudi and co-starring Rajkummar Rao. The movie came out in July and even pushed out Hrithik Roshan's Super 30 as its competitor, making it prepone its release (which in fact, turned out to be a boon for Super 30). The makers of Judgementall Hai Kya thought the film may suffer because of the backlash of the Kangana-journalists spat. Instead, the film was met with positive reviews from most of the critics. Kangana also was singled out for praise. And yet, the film didn't manage to make much money at the box office, earning about Rs 30.35 crore after the end of its second weekend in the theatres.

Which brings us to say this - Kangana is still one of the finest actresses that we have. But her controversies are not at all helping her at the box office. They may make some initial noise pre-release, but once the movie is in the theatres, Kangana is struggling to bring in the crowds. This, inspite of the fact, that she enjoys good support from the right-wingers; a support that seems restricted only to social media and not extended to theatre windows. Kangana Ranaut needs to find new ways to reinvent her social image, because her current image is not bringing in the bucks for her. Unless, she has a far bigger plan to make her career transcend way beyond Bollywood, into, well, politics. If that's the case, maybe she is on the right path!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 05, 2019 09:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).