BJP MP and actor Kangana Ranaut has taken a dig at Congress leader Sonia Gandhi amid the ongoing controversy over her alleged reaction during the rendition of Vande Mataram at the Congress headquarters on Independence Day.
Kangana reposted a meme featuring a scene from Christopher Nolan's recent hit The Odyssey. The scene shows Odysseus crying and yelling in excruciating pain as he hears the enchanting, fatal song of the Sirens. In the poem, the Sirens are dangerous bird-women creatures who lure passing sailors to their deaths on the rocky shores of their island.
The meme compared Odysseus's reaction to that of Sonia Gandhi listening to Vande Mataram, appearing to mock the Congress leader's reaction during the national song. The caption on the meme read, "Sonia Gandhi after 2nd verse." Kangana shared the meme with the caption, "I usually don’t enjoy or post memes but this one cracked me up 😂"
However, the Congress has denied all such claims and asserted that there was no attempt to stop the singing of the full version of the national song. Instead, the party said Sonia was only asking for a chair for Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, as he had been standing for a while.
The controversy comes days after Parliament cleared amendments to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, granting “Vande Mataram” status at par with the national anthem.
Kangana recently made headlines for her stance against the CJP protesters. The actor had stirred controversy by calling the female protesters 'gutter generation'. She had said, “Never in my life have I seen so much ugliness in one place. These reels from Gen Z protests are puke-inducing. The way they speak and the kind of language they are using... never in my life have I seen everything in each and every frame so jarring and so crass all at once....I call them Generation Gutter. Some of them have nothing to offer to the system. They are not good at studies.”
She added, "You call yourself cockroaches and look/behave like them as well... there is no paradox or juxtaposition there, just simply subjecting the world to your filth, garbage and ugliness. I am scarred from these reels, need some healing, digital detox."
Vibha Maru is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Entertainment, based in Delhi. With a decade of experience across digital and print media, she covers Bollywood, Hollywood and web shows. A self-confessed cinephile who breathes Hindi cinema, Vibha can often be found sacrificing sleep after binge-watching films and web series. Though she holds a Commerce degree, she discovered her true calling in journalism after enrolling at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). She began her career covering Delhi's cultural scene, food, nightlife, concerts, and city life at The Times of India, before moving into full-time entertainment journalism with India Today. At India Today, Vibha interviewed some of the biggest names in Bollywood and television while carving a niche for herself through film reviews, opinion pieces, nostalgic features, celebrity interviews, and trend-driven stories. She later brought her storytelling and editorial expertise to The Indian Express, where she continued to deepen her understanding of cinema through long-form entertainment explainers, retrospectives and feature writing. Now, as Assistant Editor at Hindustan Times Entertainment, Vibha continues to chronicle the world of movies and pop culture. Her work spans breaking entertainment news, exclusive interviews, celebrity features, and stories that capture the conversations shaping Indian cinema.Read More
