A day after Kangana Ranaut alleged that Sonu Sood quit Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi because he was reluctant to "work under a woman director," the actor clarified the actual reason that he quit the project and told news agency IANS: "Kangana is a dear friend and she will always remain one but this constant playing the woman card, the victim card and making this entire issue about male chauvinism is ridiculous," Sonu, who was reportedly going to play the role of Sadashivrao Bhau in the film, cited an example from his experience of working with a female director in the past and added, "The gender of the director is not the issue. Competence is. Let's not confuse the two. I have worked with Farah Khan (in Happy New Year) who is a competent woman director and Farah and I had a great professional equation and we are still best of friends. That's all I would like to say."
After the film's director Krish got busy shooting for NTR's biopic, Kangana Ranaut, who plays the titular role in the film, decided to take charge as the film's director in his absence and claimed that Sonu had quit the film because he didn't want to work "under a woman director." Kangana told IANS: "He refused to meet me. He refused to work under a woman director. Even though the team suggested that they have full faith in me, it seems, Sonu had neither dates nor faith."
Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi is a biopic based on the life of freedom fighter Rani Laxmi Bai. The film also features television actress Ankita Lokhande and it is slated to release on January 25.
(With inputs from IANS)
