Mumbai: According to reports, actress Kangana Ranaut has donned the director’s hat to shoot her upcoming film Manikarnika. A picture of a clapboard from the sets of the period film showing Kangana as the director of the film had gone viral on the internet. This had triggered rumours of Kangana directing the film, although her spokesperson straigthly denied any such thing.
Kangana’s spokesperson has clarified that Krish Jagarlamudi is still the director of ‘Manikarnika’ and Ranaut has just stepped in to shoot for certain sections on his behalf, while he was busy with certain prior commitments. However, moments after this, Sonu Sood who was earlier playing an important role in the film backed out of the project. This fuelled rumours that he was not too happy with Kangana turning director on the set.
Reportedly, Sonu was had multiple differences with Kangana on the sets and was not too pleased taking instructions from her. Things reached boiling points when Kangana wanted to cut down his role in the film. All of this forced Sonu to walk out of the film.
Things did not stop here as Kangana lashed out at Sonu and alleged that he was not ready to shoot under a female director and was unwilling to give his dates for ‘Manikarnika’.
On the other hand, Sonu Sood denied Kangana’s allegations. In an official statement, the actor said, “Kangana is a dear friend and she will always remain one but this constant playing the woman card, the victim card and making this entire issue about male chauvinism is ridiculous. The gender of the director is not the issue. Competence is. Let’s not confuse the two. I’ve worked with Farah Khan who’s a competent woman director and Farah and I had a great professional equation and we are still best of friends. That’s all I would like to say.”
After Sonu’s exit from the film, the makers are on a look out for a suitable replacement. ‘Manikarnika- The Queen of Jhansi’ is slated to release on January 25, 2019.
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Ms Kalinga