Manikarnika controversy: Did Sonu Sood MISUSE his friendship with film's director to include Kushti scenes in the script?

The sudden exit of Sonu Sood from Kangana Ranaut’s ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’ has raised several eyebrows. The ‘Simmba’ actor walked out of the film citing his differences with Kangana, who is playing the titular role of Rani Laxmibai in the film. The ‘Queen’ actress confirmed Sood’s exit from the film and alleged that he was not willing to give his dates to reshoot the portions and work under a woman director. Sonu didn’t take kindly to the words and reacted to the allegations by saying that gender of the director was never the issue and making the entire thing about male chauvinism is ridiculous. The ‘Dabangg’ actor even criticised Kangana for playing the woman card in a statement. As per the latest development, sources close to Kangana Ranaut have told an entertainment portal that Sonu misused his friendship with Manikarnika’s director Krish and included the Kushti scenes in the film’s script. "Those Kushti sequences cost the studio a bomb," the source told Pinkvilla. (Manikarnika's poster Source- Twitter) On the other hand, a source close to Sood squashed all the allegations that he is a director’s actor and has always followed the director’s vision. ‘’If Sonu really needed to convince Krish, he would have convinced him to play Jhansi Ki Rani or turn around the whole story on his character Sadashiv Rao," the source close to the ‘R Rajkummar’ actor told the portal. Sonu Sood on 'Manikarnika' sets (Photo: Web) Kangana, while talking to a leading daily, had said that none of the portions Sonu shot would be used in the film anymore as he shot for the scenes with gelled hair. “Yes, none of the portions he has shot before will be used because he has spiked hair with gel. So, the new team of DOP, editors and our writers of Manikarnika have discarded those scenes. I have to shoot all of that anyway. So, it’s easy to get another actor on board. Who keeps spiked hair for a period film?” she told Indian Express. A source close to Manikarnika has shared pictures with the entertainment portal where Sonu can be seen having gelled hair, which has set many tongues wagging. Sources close to Kangana told the portal that Sonu Sood wouldn’t listen to the designers, giving a new twist to the entire controversy. ‘Manikarnika’ is slated to hit the silver screens on January 25, 2019 and we wonder if the re-shoot of several scenes will affect it’s release date. Watch this space for more updates!