Kangana Ranaut calls nursing ‘most sexualised profession’: ‘Their uniform is very British’

4 min readMumbaiJun 8, 2026 09:24 AM IST

Kangana Ranaut plays a nurse in Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata.

Last week, Kangana Ranaut unveiled the trailer of her upcoming film, Manoj Tapadia’s period crime thriller Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata, in which she plays a nurse at Cama Hospital, one of the targets during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. The film showcases how valuable the nurses’ contribution was at keeping the hospital operational and the patients safe despite the terror strike. Having played a nurse, Kangana maintains that it’s not an easy profession and is in need of multiple reforms, from the pay structure to even the uniform.

“More than their lives, there should be change in what people feel towards them. It’s the most sexualised profession. People dress up as a nurse on Halloween, and crack jokes on them. They’re underpaid, overworked, and sexualised,” said Kangana.

“There was a dialogue in our film where two people look at the nurse and say, ‘Time mila toh do-chaar baatein bhi kar lo.’ We couldn’t keep that line due to time constraints. But that’s the reality. We don’t give nurses the respect they deserve. That’s the same case with the watchmen and the cleaning staff. They clean up the patients. That’s such an important task. But they’re only looked at, never registered,” she told ANI.

Kangana Ranaut also feels somewhere, the sexualisation has to do with the nurses’ uniform, which still suffers from a colonial hangover.  “The dress code for the nurses dates back to the British era. The doctors can wear anything, they just get a coat to wear over that. But our nurses have that typical uniform, whether it’s hot or cold. It’s a foreign look,” said the actor.

Kangana clarified that she doesn’t mean to demean the values that the uniform stands for. “We’ve worked with a lot of integrity and dignity as far as the uniform is concerned in the film. Its shape or size doesn’t matter. It’s your uniform, it’s your duty. But having said that, I personally feel it’s a very British look. Pins, caps, and belts seem influenced by the US Navy from World War I and II,” she claimed.

Kangana called for a reform in the uniform, which she feels should be “Indianized.” She also asked the nurses to be consulted on what kind of uniform they’d like to wear at work every day. She hopes that her film is able to bring about some change in that direction, and makes the audience look at nurses very differently, going forward.

The title of the film, Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata, has been inspired by the term Prime Minister Narendra Modi coined for the workers of India last year. That prompted Kangana Ranaut to change the name of her film from Nurses of Cama. However, the title was already registered with John Abraham’s JA Films. Kangana thanked John at the trailer launch for giving them the title for free within a day of getting a call from his Shootout at Wadala (2013) co-star.

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Co-produced by Pen Studios and Kangana’s Manikarnika Films, Bharat Bhhagya Viddhaata also stars Girija Oak and Smita Tambe, among others. It’s slated to release in cinemas on June 12, and will clash with films like Imtiaz Ali’s Main Vaapas Aaunga, Vikram Bhatt’s Haunted 3D: Echoes of the Past, Manoj Bajpayee-starrer Governor, and Maanvi Gagroo and Patralekhaa-starrer Heer Sara.