Kangana Ranaut’s ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’ is grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons. Things were looking for all smooth for the epic drama until Sonu Sood walked out of ‘Manikarnika’ citing difference with the leading actress Kangana. Sood, who was playing the role of Sadashiv in the film, left the film after he was reportedly asked to re-shoot certain scenes by Kangana. The ‘Queen’ actress had confirmed Sonu’s exit from ‘Manikarnika’, saying that he was not willing to shoot under a woman director and was not giving the required dates to re-shoot his portions.
Sonu, who will be next seen in JP Dutta’s ‘Paltan’, has finally reacted to Kangana’s allegations of refusing to work under a woman director. While talking to an entertainment portal, the ‘Dabangg’ actor said that the gender of the director is not even the issue but competence is.
"The gender of the director is not the issue. Competence is. Let’s not confuse the two. I’ve worked with Farah Khan [For Happy New Year] 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," Sood told Pinkvilla.
We wonder if the battle of words between the two actors will die down any time soon.
Manikarnika has been embroiled into controversies for the longest time. The film based on the life of Rani Laxmibai was in news when a picture of a clipboard showing Kangana’s name in the director’s section made its way to the internet. The ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ actress’ team had clarified that she didn’t step into the shoes of director Krish and it was a temporary adjustment. Speculations were rife that Kangana and Krish had a fallout after the rumours were laid to rest after the 'Simran' star's team released a statement.
The makers of ‘Manikarnika’ will re-shoot Sonu’s portions with another actor. The much-awaited film is slated to hit the silver screens on January 25, 2019 but we wonder if the film will be able to release on time.
Watch this space for more updates!