Producer Kamal Jain Kangana directing Manikarnika
Image Source - Instagram

Filmmaker Krish’s epic biographical film ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi‘ is currently entangled in several controversies. The latest being that of Kangana taking over from Krish to complete the film’s remaining patchwork (so that it releases on time). Some reports suggest that Kangana taking over the film led to Sonu Sood walking out of the film.

However, ‘Manikarnika’s producer Kamal Jain clarified these rumours and revealed why Kangana took over the charge. “The additional shoot of the film is presently underway at ND Studios at Karjat, near Mumbai. After the last schedule was over, we saw the line up of the film. On seeing it, we decided that apart from the patchwork, we also needed a few additional scenes. Once the scenes were written, we approached Kangana for additional dates. But Krish had moved on to his next project by then,” he told Pinkvilla. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfgL99qnPyX/?hl=en&taken-by=team_kangana_ranaut

He further added, “Given how driven and creatively involved Kangana Ranaut has been on this project since its inception, we realised that she would be the best person to take over the mantle. Hence, there is no hijacking of the project and whatever decisions are being taken are with the full support of the producer and the studio. We have an aggressive production schedule ahead of us since we are committed to releasing the film on January 25, 2019.”

The producer also revealed that Zeeshan Ayub will now be replacing Sonu Sood in the film. “While we managed to get matching dates from Danny Denzongpa, Jishu Sengupta, Ankita Lokhande and others, we got stuck on Sonu Sood’s combination dates and continuity look as he has grown a beard for Simmba. Hence, we had to let him go and Zeeshan Ayub now plays the character of Sadashiv,” said Kamal.

We hope that at least now the controversies will stop and ‘Manikarnika’ would see the light of the day on its scheduled date.

Also Read: Sonu Sood on Kangana’s allegations: The gender of the director is not the issue. Competence is.