From Prosthetic Teeth To an Authentic Jaat Accent – How Kangana Ranaut Created ‘Datto’ – Her Most Iconic Character Yet!

Kangana Ranaut set such a high benchmark with her performance in Tanu Weds Manu Returns, that it would be difficult for most actresses to top that for several years to follow.

The 4-time National Award winner, went to great lengths to train herself for the role of ‘Datto’ – a Haryanavi, college-going sportsgirl, living in Delhi, which is mostly unheard of among mainstream Hindi cinema actresses.



The actress played a double role in the film, first being the fierce and bold troublemaker – Tanu, and other of this vivacious, rusty and easily likable – Datto, which was soon going to become one of the most iconic female roles of Indian cinema.

To achieve an authentic appearance for the character, the makers tried several combinations of looks on Kangana during the preparation of the film.

10 different denture sets were tried and eventually one was picked, which exemplified why the character earned the nickname – Datto, with big teeth and all. This was topped with realistic work by the hair and makeup department, who also tried to make her nose look slightly bigger than usual and gave her several trials for the right-kind of hair-wig, before they went with the final look.



For the costumes, the designers went to several local markets of Haryana to pick the right kind of clothing, also observing the local athletes on campuses.

Meanwhile, Kangana – paid a regular visit to Delhi University, meeting and talking to several female students studying there. She then went on a dialect training to master the Haryanavi accent, under a professional. An intense workshop that lasted for several weeks enabled her to seamlessly utter every word with faultless authenticity.

To physically capture the body-language of an athlete, Kangana trained for hours on a daily basis under – Sunita Rai, who represented India in triple jump. Her training sessions lasted daily for 3 to 4 hours, attended by the actress regularly in Mumbai.

Even her whole body-language, her nuances, her walk and even her stare were so gratifyingly realistic at the end, topped with one of the best put-on accents by a Bollywood actor, that the creation on screen became a real person, with an identity of her own.

The result of this grueling transformation was such that it was difficult to tell that both roles were played by the same actor, turning it into one of the best female performances of our time.

Speaking on how she took care of the detailed nuances of her character, Kangana was once quoted saying:



“She [Datto] has severely tested my abilities as an artiste, I had to completely let go of all the nuance and the characteristics I used for Tanu. I could not reuse or repeat any of them. It was difficult but gratifying and the response has been overwhelming.”

 

And it certainly did pay off – as Kangana went on to win, her 3rd National award for the film, the following year. And the film itself, became one of the biggest box-office hits with a female in the lead, grossing over Rs 250 Crores in worldwide Box Office gross collections.

The role of Datto is certainly one of the most iconic female characters of Indian cinema. And rightfully so.

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