Actor Sonu Sood spoke out about the 'Manikarnika' controversy in a brand new interview. Revealing what made him leave the film after actor Kanagana Ranaut took over as its director, he said he didn't want to hurt her sentiments. Describing why he left 'Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi' after shooting for it, he said, “Kangana is a friend of mine from many years, and I don't want to hurt her sentiments. But to talk about it, I will say that when he had shot for major portions of 'Manikarnika', I asked my director that we need to start shooting again and he said that he received an email saying that he is not going to be a part of the project anymore.”
He added that he spoke to the actor about how the situation stands. “She said that she wants to direct the film and wants me to support her. I said okay but we need to get him back on the set because he has worked really hard for the film but she denied saying that she wanted to continue directing. Then I asked her to send across rushes from the film but she denied saying that she wanted to continue directing. Then I asked her to send across rushes from the film and I saw that 80% of my scenes were chopped off and the scenes that I was narrated were not there. I spoke to Kangana again and she confessed as a friend that she wanted this to be shot in a certain way. So I told her that she is a great friend of mine but I’m not comfortable in shooting what she is asking me to do, I said okay to the previous script and director but I would like to walk out of this project and I won’t even speak about it. I had given the film four months and had left a few projects. I felt a lot of grief, but didn’t say anything.”
Sonu had earlier refuted Kangana's accusation of him not being ready to work under a female director. He had said, “That was not my statement. I never said that I don't want to work with a female director because I have already done a movie with a female director. I only said I can't be working with two directors on one set. So I will always maintain that stand and in a span of all these years, whatever films I have done, 80-90 movies, I have worked with one director at a time. So that is my stand and I will always stick to it.”
