Sometime back, a fairly new director who wanted to make a biopic on Kiran Bedi went to Kangana Ranaut. It was post-Queen, when she was beginning to be taken seriously. It was also the time she'd begun to take herself a bit too seriously after she asked for and got the credit as "additional dialogue" writer of Queen .

The new Kangana soon picked up "ownership" as a word to demand more than acting credit for her films and, in the process of jostling for space in the writing department, the Kiran Bedi biopic never happened.

That perhaps is not the only project that fell through because of her insistence that she feature as part of the writing team. But this demand wouldn't work with Vishal Bhardwaj when he offered her Rangoon . Instead, as has been written extensively, he and the "boys" (Saif, Shahid) chivalrously let Kangana take "ownership" of the film by letting her get Re 1 more than the two heroes.

So, when a film like Rangoon , which revolved around her, failed to work, did she also stand up and take the rap for it? Kangana wasn't amused with even a slightly milder version of that question but answer she did, at a brunch organised by T-Series for Simran, which, incidentally, has also run into rough weather over writing credits. But first, her answer to taking ownership when a film fails.

"It does affect you," she began, and went off to take selfies with all around. A few minutes later, I asked her again. "When you've given one year of your life to something and it doesn't work, it does affect you," she said.

How?

I don't think I was her favourite person in the room that afternoon. But she talked of how the films she's got now - Simran and Jhansi Ki Rani - were signed before Rangoon fell. Nothing major has come her way after that. So, she was aware her standing had taken a beating and things "would perhaps have been different if Rangoon had succeeded".

Kangana has succeeded in wresting an "additional dialogue" credit for Simran , leading to a rift between the director and the writer. The whisper is that once most of the film was shot and edited and had turned out well, she wanted a writing credit because, "How else can I get ownership of the film?"

Writer Apurva Asrani, who has teamed with director Hansal Mehta over some fine films like Shahid and Aligarh, was not even invited to the brunch. Ever since he had to share dialogue credit with Kangana, Apurva and Hansal haven't spoken to each other either. And Apurva, who edited the film as well, has been replaced by another editor.

The writing community is understandably up in arms. Every actor improvises on the dialogue given to him or her. Pink would've been unimaginable without Amitabh Bachchan's contribution. Or the new release, Hindi Medium, would've been orphaned if Irrfan Khan hadn't been around with his well-timed dialogue delivery which gave it a comic punch. So isn't tweaking the dialogues to suit his personality, a part of an actor's job?

That debate rages. Fighting for recognition for work is the prerogative of both Kangana and Apurva. But who did the actual work is the real dispute and with Hansal choosing to stay on Kangana's side (perhaps to ensure the film reaches the finishing line), there isn't much the writer can do. Except to take the battle forward and have safety clauses put into future work.

And what can Kangana do to take indisputable "ownership" of a film? "The next film I do will be directed by me," she said to me. "I'll give you the details later. But yes, I'm turning director." Which means she's willing to put herself on the line to make a point.

Wow. Whatever one may say about her, the Himachali never lacked courage.

Bharathi S. Pradhan is a senior journalist and author