Jisshu Sengupta to play Kangana Ranaut's husband in Manikarnika

Actor Jisshu Sengupta will be seen in a Hindi film again after three years with Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, starring Kangana Ranaut. He will play her husband, King Gangadhar Rao in the biopic.

The Bengali actor began shooting for the film earlier in January and will complete it in the next few months. Sengupta was worried he might not have dates to shoot for the film as he was already booked for Srijit Mukherji's period film in which he plays a king too. However, Mukherji allowed him time to film for Manikarnika.

Sengupta told Mumbai Mirror, a tabloid, that he learnt horse-riding for the role and will begin training for sword-fighting as well. He also hurt his knee while shooting for a sequence and only managed to get through filming due to the help of the on-set doctor. But he relished the opportunity of working on the biopic of the queen of Jhansi.

"While playing a historical figure, one has to understand it well in order to get into character. I read up extensively on Gangadhar Rao online and Krish sir briefed me really well. Working with Kangana has been brilliant!" he said.

Sengupta made his Hindi debut with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005) and later appeared in Barfi! (2012), Mardaani (2014) and Piku (2015).