Actress Kangana Ranaut announced on Thursday that she will star in the second instalment of the Manikarnika franchise, titled “Manikarnika Returns: The Legend Of Didda”.
Now, Ashish Kaul, author of Didda's biography, "Didda - Kashmir Ki Yodha Rani" claimed that he had shared the concept with Ranaut to write a foreword for the Hindi version of his book but never got a reply from her.
Calling her out for violation of the IPS and copyright laws, Kaul told Times of India, “I find it so brazen and hideous and I am still inclined to believe that Kangana has been misguided.”
Kangana made the announcement on her verified Twitter account. She wrote: India has been a witness to the story of many bravehearts such as Rani of Jhansi. Another such untold heroic story is that of queen of Kashmir, who defeated Mahmud Ghaznavi not once but twice. @KamalJain_TheKJ and me are coming up with #ManikarnikaReturns: The Legend of Didda.”
Sources close to the development revealed that the new film will be bigger and mounted on an international scale, adding that the team intends to make a world class franchise of real-life women heroes. The idea is to bring forgotten woman heroes who have constructed the true identity of Bharat, the sources added.
Kangana and producer Kamal Jain will join hands to bring back the franchise after 2019's “Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi”. The actress had a meeting with Jain last week and locked their new script.
Didda was the Queen of Kashmir who defeated Mehmood Ghaznavi twice in battle. Her one leg was polio-stricken but she was one of the greatest warriors.
Kangana plans to complete her ongoing commitments first and then start shooting for the new film in January 2022.
On work front, Kangana recently wrapped her shoot for the much-anticipated project 'Thalaivi' and has been updating her fans about the preparation for her upcoming flick 'Dhaakad'. Besides that, she also has a patriotic film 'Tejas' in the pipeline.
