Actress Kangana Ranaut, geared up for the release of her next film “Maniakarnika — The Queen of Jhansi” on the Republic Day weekend, has said no one has requested or pressurised the makers of her film to advance or delay the release of the film, which is clashing with late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s biographical film “Thackeray” at the box office.

Kangana was interacting with the media at the music launch of “Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi”, along with film’s music composer Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, writer-lyricist Prasoon Joshi and other cast and crew members of the film here on Wednesday.

Earlier, “Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi”, “Why Cheat India” and “Thackeray” were scheduled to release on the Republic Day weekend, but the makers of “Why Cheat India” advanced their release to January 18 when makers of “Thackeray” requested them to do so.

Asked if “Manikarnika” makers faced any pressure from the “Thackeray” team to change the release date of her film, Kangana said: “We haven’t been approached by anyone who has requested or forced us either to prepone or postpone release of our film.

“We haven’t been pressurised by anyone, so we are very happy that we have got a sort of a big window to release our film on Republic Day weekend. I think two films can easily come on the same day and so far, nobody has pressurised us. It will be completely wrong to say that we have been approached or pressurised to do something that we didn’t want to do.”

Kangana plays the central character of Rani Laxmibai in the film. She has also directed a few portions of the film.

Sharing her experience of being a part of the film, Kangana said: “I am a very small part of this very big film. Until now, I have always worked in small films but this is actually my first big film… Not because of the budget, not because of the story. It is a big film because of the kind of artistes I am getting to work with.”

Praising the film’s music composers, Kangana said: “It’s my first film with Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy. What they have done for this film, I don’t think words can explain that. There are 7 to 8 songs in the film and each one is better than the other. We weren’t able to understand which song we should release first but I feel audience will have great time when they will listen to entire album.”

“Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi” will hit screens on January 25, while “Thackeray” will hit the screens on January 23, Bal Thackeray’s 93rd birth anniversary.

Kangana Ranaut’s next outing Manikarnika is all set for release during January 25th 2019 during the Republic Day weekend. After the film’s director Krish walked out of the project, Kangana Ranaut herself is directing the rest of the film. The makers today announced that the teaser of Manikarnika will be out on October 2nd on the eve of Gandhi Jayanthi.

The film landed into a series of controversies and the budget of the film too has been doubled. Manikarnika is the story of warrior queen Jhansi Laxmibhai. Zee Studios is producing Manikarnika and the film will release in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi languages. Veteran writer Vijayendra Prasad penned the script of Manikarnika.

Super talented director Krish went to Bollywood after the super success of Balakrishna’s Gautamiputra Satakarni. He has been asked to direct the biopic of Rani Laxmibai which has been titled Manikarnika. Bollywood beauty Kangana Ranaut has been playing the lead role in the film and the principle shoot of Manikarnika has been wrapped up. The movie walked out of the summer race due to the delay in the shoot.

The makers revealed that Manikarnika would hit the screens during the Independence Day weekend but the latest update says that the film will not hit the screens on time. The VFX work has been delayed and Krish is not in a mood to compromise on the quality. Manikarnika may now hit the screens during January 2019. Zee Studios is producing Manikarnika and Jisshu Sengupta, Ankita Lokhande, Atul Kulkarni and Sonu Sood played other pivotal roles.

The makers of “Manikarnika”, a biopic on the valiant Rani Laxmibai, on Tuesday said the movie neither distorts historical facts nor does it portray anything objectionable.

The comment comes after Brahmin outfit Sarva Brahman Mahasabha demanded the makers to share complete details of the film’s story to rule out any tampering with facts.

Kamal Jain, the film’s producer, said in a statement: “As responsible filmmakers, we have taken utmost care while portraying Rani Laxmibai’s character and have consulted historians and scholars. Rani Laxmibai was a freedom fighter and one of the most respected leaders our country has seen. She is a symbol of valour and the film’s story depicts the same.”

“Manikarnika” features the fearless Kangana Ranaut in the lead role.

“The film doesn’t portray anything objectionable about Rani Laxmibai and nor has the film distorted the history in anyway. The film showcases Rani Laxmibai in a most respectful manner and is an inspirational story which every kid and every member of a family would love to see.

“We as country would be proud to showcase the bravery, courage and heroism of Rani Laxmibai to the world.”

The makers have said they are open to sharing the script with “authorised persons” who have any “doubts” about the movie, which is a tribute to Rani Laxmibai.

Suresh Mishra, President, Sarva Brahman Mahasabha, wrote a letter to the makers, saying the film’s shooting will “not be allowed in Rajasthan till the complete information on the historical ground of the story is made available”.

The organisation has also accused the film producer for “tampering with historical facts”, which Mishra said, will “not be tolerated and a massive protest will be staged in case their request is not paid heed too”.

Meanwhile, not satisfied the clarification from the filmmakers, representatives of the Mahasabha have decided to call on Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh on Wednesday and submit a memorandum requesting him to take from the producers an affidavit which declares that the film does not distort historical facts.

Speaking to IANS, Mishra said: “We want to ensure that any film which is being shot in Rajasthan does not distort historical facts and hence we want the state government to act accordingly.”

He said that a representative board of the Mahasabha would meet the Governor and request Rajasthan government to make arrangements for obtaining an affidavit from the producers, outlining the story line of the film and also confirming that it did not tamper with the historical facts.

The news about “Manikarnika” comes soon after “Padmaavat” emerged successful following a long-stretched battle with Rajput outfit Shri Rajput Karni Sena over alleged distortion of facts — a contention that the movie’s producers had been denying since its shooting began.

“Padmaavat” was not allowed to be shot in Rajasthan after its director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was assaulted in Jaipur. The film also did not release in the state.

Kangana Ranaut injured on sets of Manikarnika

Actress Kangana Ranaut, who has been shooting for the biopic on Rani Laxmibai “Manikarnika”, has had her ligament torn while pulling a stunt.

“The accident took place when Kangana was performing the iconic scene in fort Mehrangarh, Jodhpur where Laxmi Bai jumps off a 40 feet wall with Damodar her child tied to her back on to a horse back,” Kangana’s spokesperson told IANS.

“Kangana didn’t land properly and in an attempt to save the kid from any injury, she ended up hurting her ankle. She was taken to a hospital immediately in the early morning hours as the crew was filming nights. The X ray was done and it turned out to be a ligament tear,” the spokesperson added.

With the rest of the filming stalled till Kangana gets well, the stunt that injured Kangana, ” was the last dangerous stunt” left to film.

“Kangana has been advised rest for one week till she has to keep the cast on. The crew will resume filming as soon as the cast comes off. She is almost done with her shoot, only had one more day to shoot there. Iconic war scene was being shot. Therefore the shoot has not been halted because of the injury,” said the spokesperson.

Directed by National Award winning director Krish, the film is scheduled for release on April 27 next year.

It also features Sonu Sood, Suresh Oberoi, Atul Kulkarni and Ankita Lokhande.