Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut says she’s going to direct her upcoming movie ‘Manikarnika Returns: The Legend of Didda’ until she finds someone better to do it.
The new film will be a standalone sequel to the original, which will narrate the story of Didda, the warrior queen of Kashmir.
While playing the role of the warrior queen Lakshmi Bai in the 2019 movie ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’, Ranaut took over directing duties after filmmaker Krish left.
“I have delivered a Rs100 crore [Rs1 billion] film as a director with ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’. So, I will try and keep myself as the director unless I find someone better than me for this job,” Ranaut said in an interview with the Times of India.
“Obviously, I will be more than happy to just act as an actor because I have lots of responsibilities in terms of other projects that Manikarnika Productions is going to announce. The pressure is a lot but I do believe that I can do a lot. So, I’m looking for someone to direct but if not, then I am there, I will definitely do it,” she added.
Ahead of the release of the 2019 film, Krish and Ranaut clashed over ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’. At the time, it was allegedly that Krish left the project midway to helm a different movie. However, in later interviews Krish said it was Ranaut’s interference that forced him out.
Ranaut also alleged that actor Sonu Sood quit his role as Maratha warrior Sadashivrao Bhau because he didn’t want to be directed by a woman. However, Sood told Gulf News his side of the story.
“I just feel sad that she’s making such ridiculous claims about me not wanting to work with a woman director. I have worked with Farah Khan for ‘Happy New Year’ before. So, where does this woman card come from? Gender is never an issue with me when it comes to work,” said Sood.
