What I made was gold, Kangana turned it to silver: Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi

Filmmaker Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi, better known as Krish, finally opens up on all the controversies regarding his feud with actor Kangana Ranaut and his ouster from the film Manikarnika. The Rani Laxmibai epic saga seems to have been more exciting behind the scenes than on screen.

How much of the film have you directed?
I’d say more than 70 per cent is mine. I remained quiet until the release for the sake of the film and for the entire team which worked so hard on the film. But now if I don’t speak about what Kangana did to the film I’d be doing a disservice to all our hard work. Many people advised me to talk after the film was taken away from me. I’d say what I directed was pure gold. Kangana turned it into silver.

Why did you leave the film when it was on the verge of completion?
Every time I am asked this, my heart sinks to the ground. I did not leave the film incomplete. I shot Manikarnika for 109 days, whereas I completed NTR biopic in half of that time. I moved to my other commitment (the NTR biopic) only after finishing the dubbing and post production. Everyone had dubbed except Kangana.

Then what happened?
Once I finished, she promised to do some patchwork under my guidance. She promised she’d shoot for four to five days extra and send me all details of the shooting. It never happened. She says she had to re-shoot many portions because my cinematographer Gnana Shekhar had not done a good job. What nonsense is she talking? Every actor and technician gave their life and breath to this film.

This film seems to have taken more from you than it gave you...
At the end of the day it is my baby. I have seen the film and I am relieved that the grandeur vision and scale that I imagined for the film remains intact. The climax in Jaipur (doubling up for Gwalior) was shot entirely by me. I charged half of the fee that I get for my Telugu films because I wanted to be a part of this historical attempt to bring Rani Laxmibai’s story to screen. I’ve directed complex costume dramas like Kanche and Gautamiputra Satarkarni. I completed the film in June, only a small portion remained. I had to direct the NTR biopic. Then that whole thing with Sonu Sood happened.

What happened?
Kangana decided to re-shoot Sonu’s entire portion. I remember when she saw the first cut, the first thing she said even before praising the film was, ‘Sonu Sood is too overpowering na?’ Because as an antagonist Sonu Sood was very strong. That’s how we had designed the film.

In the credits of Manikarnika her name comes first then yours?
I must tell you how this whole tamasha of the credits unfolded. In the beginning it was just my name ‘Krish’ on the poster. However, on the second poster and in the trailer suddenly my name was Radha Krishan Jagarlamudi.

Why did it change suddenly?
Perhaps, it was done to confuse the audience about my identity. I asked why my name was being changed in the poster. She said that I hadn’t supported her when Sonu Sood spoke against her so why should she bother. Why would I support her, when I knew Sonu was right and he took a stand by saying that he won’t shoot the film with her.

Why did your changed name bother you so much?
In Telugu cinema (Tollywood) they know me as Krish. Then, in the trailer her name appeared as a director after mine, and at the time of the film’s release her name came first as director. When I rang her up to confront her, she said, ‘No No!! I’ve shot so much’. What she basically did was remove Sonu Sood’s role, reduce it substantially and replace him with another actor Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, and then she shot the new actor’s close-ups and inserted them in scenes that I had shot. In fact, I am the one who suggested the title Manikarnika: The queen of Jhansi. I was the director. Look at Kangana Ranaut’s guts. She did her own thing with five percent of the film and Sonu Sood’s role just to satisfy her ego.

This is sad...
I never wanted a confrontation. I am not that kind of a person but when I see what was done do to my vision, I feel very angry and sad. I am talking now regardless of how the film has fared because that’s how I had planned to speak.

Not just Sonu Sood. Look at what happened to Atul Kulkarni’s great character of Tayta Tope?
Yes, really sad. This film was not made to glorify Kangana Ranaut. It was mean to extol our great freedom fighters. The film is great even now. But I had made a greater film. She didn’t understand that. She didn’t understand that she couldn’t play God with history.

Why did the producer allow Kangana’s vision to override yours?
Exactly! The producers should answer that. What authority did she have to remove Sonu Sood? Have you ever heard of anything like this?
She was the protagonist but I am a reputed director, directing a genre that I know. What gave her the right to tamper with what I did?

Now that you’ve spoken do you think there will be repercussions?
I had to set the record straight. I needed a proper closure for my film, Manikarnika. Would Sonu Sood or Atul Kulkarni have signed the film if Kangana Ranaut was the director? They put their heart and soul in it. It is not about shooting. It’s about executing. Many people from Mumbai have called to congratulate me. What I made was to perpetuate the phenomenon of Jhansi ki Rani. Not Kangana Ranaut.