Waiting to find a happy space before working together again: Anand L Rai on Kangana

Anand L Rai has already got Shah Rukh Khan cut down to dwarf size in his next project, but the director seems to have moved on from Kangana Ranaut. The director had previously worked with Ranaut on two hit films, Tanu Weds Manu (2011) and Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015).

Speaking to a daily, Mumbai Mirror, the director said, "Kangana and I are still good friends who care for and call on each other. But we’ll wait till we find a happy, meaningful space to work together."

Recently, the actress has gone on to rub several industry insiders the wrong way with her comments on 'nepotism' and the entire 'writers' credit' fight.

Asked about his relationship with the actress, Rai mentioned, "During Tanu Weds Manu Returns, she was a better actor and I guess I was a different director too. I don’t know if it was she or me who got more complicated, but the synergy was different. I won’t say there were conflicts but she understood life differently from me."

However, this does not mean Rai will stay away from the actress. In the same interview, he mentioned that there is a possibility of a 3rd installment for the Tanu Weds Manu series. Rai said, "We made a good film and have never said we won’t work together again, but there needs to be a little gap before we feel we have something to say together."

The director is currently producing RS Prasanna's Shubh Mangal Saavdhan with Bhumi Pednekar and Ayushmann Khurrana.

"Prasanna wanted to make a Hindi film and reached out to me. I rented a flat for him in my building, got him to live with me in Mumbai, then sent him off with the writer for a six-month tour of Delhi, Haridwar and Rishikesh, where the film was set. We worked on the script for a year-and-a-half before we embarked on this journey," Rai said.

Shubh Mangal Savdhan is set to be released on 1 September.