Kangana Ranaut takes over post-production of Manikarnika, refuses co-director credit

Actress Kangana Ranaut seems to have a proper large scale battle on her hands in the form of Manikarnia: The Queen Of Jhansi. The actress has reportedly taken over the post-production of the film in director Krish's absence. Krish is currently working on the Telugu biopic on the late actor NT Rama Rao, having dropped out of Manikarnika. 

Another source has stated that Ranaut has reportedly directed most of the dramatic sequences in the film, while Krish was responsible for the action sequences of the period drama. The source stated, "Whatever portions of the film has been retained are majorly the action scenes, which have been shot and designed by Hollywood stunt director Nick Powell. Kangana has reshot everything else in the 45-day run on the schedule that was wrapped up recently." 

The actress has now taken over the post-production work of the film in the absence of Krish, which has led to a delay in her next project. The source close to the film stated, "Kangana has been working round the clock on this film, without making any demands. When the producers reached out to her for the post-production work and told her about Krish's unavailability, she requested the makers of her next film Panga (Ashwini Iyer Tiwary and Fox Star Studios) to make amends in the dates of their schedule. They understood her situation and decided to make the necessary adjustments." 

Ranaut was expected to begin work on the Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari film on 26 October. However, reports now suggest that the film will only go on the floors post Diwali. 

Director Krish dropped out of the period-drama, a biopic on the life of the Queen of Jhansi, Rani Laxmibai, in September 2017. In addition to Krish, actor Sonu Sood also dropped out of the project, reportedly after being displeased with Ranaut's increased role as director. Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub has now stepped into the role and has reshot the portions meant for Sood. 

The source has also suggested that the actress was offered a co-director credit by producer Kamal Jain. However, Ranaut refused to accept the credit. This is contrary to the time when Ranaut fought to get the co-writer credit on Hansal Mehta's Simran (2017) leading to a fall out with writer Apurva Asrani. 

Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi is set to be released on 25 January 2019.