Manikarnika new pic has Kangana Ranaut as bloodied but resilient queen of Jhansi. See pic

Kangana Ranaut gets into the skin of the character in all seriousness. In a new still released by her team, Kangana looks every bit a fierce warrior queen she is playing in her upcoming period drama, Manikarnika - The Queen of Jhansi.

Sharing the still on Instagram, the handle wrote: “The Warrior Queen, getting ready to battle. #KanganaRanaut, bloodied & resilient, shoots for #Manikarnika s Action sequences with Hollywood Action Director #NickPowell #ManikarnikaOn25thJan.”

In it, we see Kangana with blood on her face. She is in warrior’s clothes. She has an armour on and is possibly holding a sword and giving her directions is Hollywood action director, Nick Powell. Kangana is a picture of concentration.

Meanwhile, Manikarnika has been mired in controversy for long. First, director Krish left the project mid-way. Then, there were rumours that Kangana had hijacked the film as its director. Much later, there were reports that actor Sonu Sood, who plays an important character in the film, quit.

On the issue of Kangana hijacking the project, the maker of Manikarnika, Kamal Jain had refuted the claims outright. He had said Kangana was considered the best person to take over the mantle to complete patchwork and to direct a few additional scenes for Manikarnika, when Krish moved on to his new film.

Later, a source close to the actor had detailed how Kangana was handed the reins of the project. The makers of Manikarnika were upset seeing the rough cut of the film and hence asked Kangana to take over. “Basically, when the producers saw the rough cut they were upset with Krish and were not happy. Hence Kangana was asked to take over. From a logical point of view if a director is under contract and is being paid by the producers then he has to reshoot if there are any changes too. But, they chose to let him go and not insist on him taking the reigns again cause they weren’t happy. They then asked Kangana to step in. Only 20-30% of what Krish shot is being retained and the other portions that is 60% are being reshot. The initial budget was around Rs 60 crores but the producers are ready to give in Rs 20 crores more for the reshoot as they trust Kangana.”

Earlier Kangana had been quoted as saying that Sonu, who she thought of as a ‘dear friend’, walked out as he refused to work under a woman director. Stung by the criticism, the actor had shot back saying that was not the case; he had worked with a female director (Farah Khan in Happy New Year) and that issue was competence. The issue snowballed into a major controversy with both parties training guns at each other.

However, not all had been lost. Kangana’s co-star in the film, Ankita Lokhande, has strongly endorsed Kangana as her ‘new captain’ and sounded happy at the prospect of shooting her first song for the film with her. She had even posted pictures of them together and had written: “I feel my feet lighter. Rehearsing for my first bollywood song with master ji @ganeshacharyaa and our new captain kangana ranaut @team_kangana_ranaut Super excited to be part of it. #jhalkaribai Much much gratitude #kamaljain #zeestudios #manikarnika #releasingon25th jan #swipelef.”

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