Kangana Ranaut-starrer Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’s budget escalates to Rs 125 crore due to delays, reshoots
Just like any other Kangana Ranaut film, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi also found itself in the middle of controversies ever since actor Sonu Sood left the project midway. Last week, Sonu Sood walked out of the project citing troubles with Kangana Ranaut taking over the director’s seat. As a result, the makers had to rope in another actor to reshoot the portions of Sonu Sood’s character. Consequently, the budget of Manikarnika soared from Rs 60 crore to Rs 125 crore straight, courtesy reshoots and delays.
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As per a Mid-Day report, the makers have decided to reshoot major portions of the film with Kangana Ranaut donning the director’s hat. The schedule was initially planned for 10-days however, it has been stretched to a 45-day schedule. The decision was taken after the initial first prints of the film turned out to be different from what conjectured, vastly deviating from the KV Vijayendra Prasad script.
A number of scenes that shed light on Manikarnika’s marriage and loss of her first child were not recreated up to the mark and were reduced to short-lived mentions. Hence, additional Rs 20 crore were allotted by the production to Manikarnika to patch the loop holes in the film.
Manikarnika Controversy: Sonu Sood hits back at Kangana Ranaut
The already-delayed project faced further problems when Sonu Sood’s date didn’t align with the reschedule. The actor was already shooting for Simmba and he grew beard by then. Hence, as per Free Press Journal reports, the delay in project has costed the project twice the initial budget, which was around Rs 60 crore.
Talking about his departure from Manikarnika, Sonu Sood told HT, that he never had problems working with a female director like Kangana Ranaut claims in her statements. He said, “That was not my statement. I never said that I don’t want to work with a female director because I have already done a movie with a female director (Farah Khan, Happy New Year). I only said I can’t be working with two directors on one set.”
He refused to work under a woman director: Kangana Ranaut on Sonu Sood walking out of Manikarnika
“I will always maintain that stand and in a span of all these years, whatever films I have done, 80-90 movies, I have worked with one director at a time. So that is my stand and I will always stick to it,” he added.
Apparently, Zeeshan Ayyub has replaced Sonu Sood in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi. The film is scheduled to hit the screens on January 25, 2019 locking horns with Hrithik Roshan’s Super 30.
Meanwhile, Kangana Ranaut’s Instagram page shared a picture of the actress practising sword fight on the set. They wrote, “Getting Battle Ready! #SneakPeek: #KanganaRanaut rehearsing an action sequence for #Manikarnika . We cant wait for the spectacle to descend on the big screen this Republic Day”
