Kangana Ranaut’s period drama, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, which has her playing Rani Lakshmibai, kicked off in Varanasi last year on May 4 with a 20-feet poster on the banks of the Ganges. Now, inching towards a Republic Day release, the film will be completed without its director. Mirror has learnt that Krish has got busy with the NTR biopic, featuring Nandamuri Balakrishnan in the title role of actor-politician NT Rama Rao and Vidya Balan as his wife Basavatarakam. And since the Hindi-Telugu bi-lingual is also targeting an early 2019 release, the director doesn’t have any dates to spare for the patchwork on Manikarnika. Being her most ambitious projects to date, the actress has stepped in to complete the film on schedule.
Confirming the news, the actress’s told media , “Yes, there is some patchwork still to be completed and Krish has got busy with the NTR biopic. He is not to be blamed, Manikarnika is a period drama and such movies takes time. Kangana speaks to Krish over the phone almost every day to discuss the filming. He is there in spirit with the team of Vijayendra Prasad who has written the story and screenplay, and Prasoon Joshi who has penned the dialogue and lyrics, working closely with Kangana to wrap up the film.”
Producer Kamal Jain endorses this, saying, “The January 25, 2019, release date is set in stone. The film needs some post-edit patchwork and the team is working towards completing it soon. Post-production and VFX is on in full swing.”
