Actor Sonu Sood has recently walked out of Kangana Ranaut’s upcoming film ‘Manikarnika’. Kangana, who had also taken over as director of the film is not happy with his decision, and hit back at him by saying that he was insecure right from the beginning and that he doesn’t want to work with woman director.

However, reacting to Kangana’s allegations, Sonu in a recent interview said, “Kangana is a dear friend and she will always remain one. But, this constantly playing the woman card, the victim card and making this entire issue about male chauvinism is ridiculous. The gender of the director is not the issue. Competence is. Let’s not confuse the two. I’ve worked with Farah Khan who’s a competent woman director and Farah and I had a great professional equation, and we are still the best of friends. That’s all I would like to say,” Indian media reported.

Kangana had taken over as director of Manikarnika, a historical epic based on the life of Rani Laxmi Bai, after original director Krish reportedly became occupied with his new film.

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In a statement to Pinkvilla earlier this week, Kangana had said, “Sonu and I haven’t even met since the last shot with Krish (director) last year. He is busy filming Simmba. He couldn’t even give us tentative dates to match combinations with other actors. The producers showed him the film and writers narrated the patchwork to him...he refused to meet me. He vehemently denied to work under a woman director, which is kind of amusing because Sonu is a dear friend and I have even launched the music of a film that he produced on his request. Even though the team suggested that they have full faith in me, it seems, Sonu had neither dates nor faith.”

Sonu Sood is currently busy shooting for Rohit Shetty’s ‘Simmba’ starring Ranveer Singh and Sara Ali Khan in the lead roles.

While, ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’ is set to release on January 25, 2019.