'Sonu Sood neither had dates nor faith in a woman director', says Kangana

Since the time the making of the film Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi was announced almost a year ago, it has created quite a buzz. 

And why not? After all Kangana Ranaut is essaying the role of Rani Laxmibai, while Sonu Sood would be seen as the Maratha, Sadashivrao, in the period drama, scripted by KV Vijayendra Prasad and helmed by Krrish.

However, the latest news about the film is that Sonu Sood has opted out due to unavailability of early dates for some important patchwork scenes.

According to a source associated with the project, “Sonu is currently sporting a beard for Rohit Shetty’s Simmba and another South Indian project, while he sported only a mustachioed look for Manikarnika. He can’t remove the beard and jeopardize the continuity of his other films which he will complete only by September end and since we can’t wait that long for him to do the patch-work scenes, Sonu graciously opted out as we’re already racing against the deadline and we need to complete out shoot at the earliest.” 

The source further added that Zeeshan Ayyub, who has previously worked with Kangana on Tanu Weds Manu Returns, has been roped in for the part.

Incidentally, after his exit, reports have been rife that the Kangana and Sonu had a showdown after he declined to work with her as a director for the patchwork scenes.

While the Mental Hai Kya actress conforms his opting out of the film and refuted the showdown countering, “Sonu and I haven’t even met since the last shot with Krish (director) last year. He is busy filming Simmba. He couldn’t even give us tentative dates to match combinations with other actors. The producers showed him the film and writers narrated the patchwork to him. He refused to meet me and vehemently denied to work under a woman director, which is kind of amusing because Sonu is a dear friend and I have even launched the music of a film that he produced on his request. Even though the team suggested that they have full faith in me, it seems, Sonu had neither dates nor faith.”

She added, “When I last spoke to him, he suggested that I can go ahead with someone else and when I narrated the script to Zeeshan Ayyub he called the studio and gave the dates. By that time, it was too late as Zeeshan gave me dates for September. Now I hear I had a showdown with him. When I never met him, never directed him, when did I have this showdown?”

On his part, Sonu maintained, “The question of me having any reservations of working with a woman director doesn’t arise because I have worked with Farah Khan on Happy New Year and we’ve been very good friends since then.”

While talking about these developments, producer Kamal Jain said, “Our team is totally focused and dedicated to finish the patchwork shoot to complete the film on time as our release date of January 25, 2019 is set in stone. The post production and VFX is going on in full swing and so is the patch shoot. I have the utmost respect and love for Sonu and he is like family to us. With a heavy heart, we have mutually decided to part ways due to his date unavailability. He is a thorough professional and has his dates committed to Simmba which is also releasing in December."

Kamal also expressed his desire to work with Sonu Sood in the future. 

SOURCE DNA INDIA: