Things are turning worse with each passing day for Kangana Ranaut's Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi.
Sonu Sood had walked out of the period drama citing that Kangana was incompetent to direct the film. With director Krish Jagarlamudi out of the picture, the Dabangg actor said that he doesn't have any reason to stick with the project as he had signed the film because of Krish.
Now actress Swati Semwal, who was supposed to play Sonu's onscreen wife, is having second thoughts about doing the film.
"To be honest, I did the film for three reasons — (Producer) Kamal Jain is a friend, I am a big fan of the film's director, Krish, whose work I have been following for a long time, and Sonu, who is a brilliant actor. Now, with two of the three reasons out of the picture, I must think before taking a decision," Swati told Mumbai Mirror when she was asked about whether she was called back to reshoot her portions with Zeeshan Ayyub.
Swati said that the Manikarnika team didn't inform her about Sonu Sood's exit or Zeeshan Ayyub replacing him. The production team has now asked Swati to schedule her dates from October 1-10 for the said 'patchwork'.
"Around 15 days ago, my team received a call from the makers asking for 10 more days even though I have completed my portions, including the dubbing. When we enquired about it, we were just told that some patchwork remains to be done. I was trying to figure out my dates when I learnt that Sonu had quit and Zeeshan Ayyub will be replacing him. It came as a shock to me as I hadn't been informed of this development," she said.
The producers of Manikarnika recently clarified that Kangana didn't hijack the film as the director but the makers allowed her to take over. Sonu blasted Kangana for her "working with a woman director" remark and said that gender was never the issue but incompetence was.
When Swati was asked about her view on Kangana taking over the directorial responsibility, she said, "I don't have a problem with an actor, especially someone of her calibre, directing the film. Having said that, my experience with Krish sir was brilliant. Kangana is a fabulous actor, one of the best in the country, and if I get to work with her, I will know what she is like as a director."
Manikarnika's budget, which was initially approved for Rs 60 crore, has now shot up to Rs 125 crore approx due to re-shoots and a series of production delays. The movie which was initially scheduled to complete the patchwork in 10 days has now been extended to a 45-day schedule in which the major portions of the film will be re-shot with new actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Sonu Sood's replacement.
Swati Semwal was earlier seen in Bareilly Ki Barfi playing the role of Kriti Sanon's friend Rama. She went on to star in Fanney Khan in a bold and modern avatar. She played the role of a budding actress in Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Rajkummar Rao and Anil Kapoor starrer.
