Kangana Ranaut has been the poster girl for controversies in Bollywood. After a row with the makers of Simran for claiming writing credits for the film, her latest release Manikarnika has been embroiled in controversy, thanks to her public spat with co-director Krish Jagarlamudi, who is also a well-known name in the Telugu film industry.
Manikarnika, which released on 25 January this year, was directed by Krish, who finished the shoot in 2017 and moved on to the sets of his next project- NTR. Following this, Kangana allegedly wore the director’s hat and changed Krish’s version of Manikarnika, claiming 70% rights to the making of the film. Krish and Kangana became co-directors and his name appeared second, after Kangana's, in the credit rolls of Manikarnika.
After the film hit the screens, Krish said that he was the primary director of the film. He alleged that Kangana had edited out his shots. Soon after Krish made the comments to the media, Kangana Ranaut’s sister Rangoli shared screenshots of Kangana’s conversations with Krish and writer Vijyendra Prasad, alleging that the director had slacked off and later walked out of the film’s shooting.
To add to the confusion, Rangoli shared the screenshots on Twitter and defended her sister’s claim to be the primary director of the film. The screenshots opened a can of worms against the director, creating the impression that he had done a shoddy job and that Mr Goyanka (of Zee Studios) was not ready to put his logo on the film considering its mediocrity. Kangana, unlike her claims on Simran, accepted that she hadn’t been a part of writing the script for the movie and asked Krish to stop making false allegations against her.
The screenshots also accuse Krish of creating a mess out of the movie and talk about how the team had to spend an additional Rs 20 crore to clear it. “After I shot and edited the film, the only thing they said is ‘It’s a new film’,” Kangana added in her texts.
The texts also suggest that Kangana had invited the director for reviewing the movie, and that he had never turned up.
Here is the proof kangana clearly asked u to come & see the film on 6th December, would u please explain this .... ?? @DirKrish pic.twitter.com/bxRCQkBidn
— Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) January 30, 2019
....he never took anybody’s calls, coz Kangana gave him co director credit she wantd him to see the final cut, he never came to see the cut... bt now in a very calculative move he appears when the film declared a hit &highly critically acclaimed wat an opportunist @DirKrish
— Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) January 30, 2019
This is for all my friends to see here’s Kangana’s messages to Vijendra Prasad on October 4th, not only she fought for his credit even begged him to be a part of the team.... @DirKrish pic.twitter.com/kop1LXId3q
— Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) January 30, 2019
Krish retorted to the allegations in an interview to an entertainment portal, alleging that Kangana is lying and that the texts were a clever ploy.
“Clearly, if you look at the messages she sent to Vijayendra and still stored them, seems that there was a plan in her mind to take over and present these later in her defence. So, that it doesn’t look like an after-thought,” he said.
After the screenshots went public, Krish came to his own defence and shared his set of WhatsApp conversations with the makers of the film, who backed Krish’s claim that Manikarnika had truly been the director’s ‘baby’. Krish said in his tweets that he was speaking out for the sake of young filmmakers, in the hope that they will not have to face humiliation like him in the future.
Through the screenshots, his co-workers claim that Krish’s version of Manikarnika was magnificent and that it was wrong on the part of Kangana to claim 70% rights for directing the film. They further talked about how Krish never stopped any of them from being a part of Kangana’s team.
These r the future film makers I came out n spoke for, so that they wont face these humiliations.. pic.twitter.com/YV4YoAmrYm
— Krish Jagarlamudi (@DirKrish) January 30, 2019
The person who saw both d versions mentioned that Ive done 85% n now the techinican who worked on ground told this. pic.twitter.com/vkM6mOiHSM
— Krish Jagarlamudi (@DirKrish) January 30, 2019
@Rangoli_A and these r our Production designers Sujith n Sri Ram pic.twitter.com/EtqYnk2anu
— Krish Jagarlamudi (@DirKrish) January 30, 2019
“I never thought I’ve to defend my ability of film making based on the manipulations and lies of one person. @Rangoli_A these messages were ur sister’s words about me when I’ve questioned her about the credit and the damage she is doing to the movie, (sic)” Krish wrote in the tweet, sharing the screenshots.
“I'm confidently saying that everything Kangana has written on those whats app messages when I've questioned her, are complete lies and pre prepared, as she has foreseen that this day will come, (sic)” he further added.
@Rangoli_A Few simple question., why my screen name has changed from Krish Jagarlamudi to Krish to Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi... Its beyond my imagination that somebody can thing this far to malign someone
— Krish Jagarlamudi (@DirKrish) January 30, 2019
N why she added her name in the month of decmeber
I never thought I've to defend my ability of film making based on the manipulations and lies of one person. @Rangoli_A these messages were ur sister's words about me ehen I've questioned her about the credit and the damage she is doing to the movie.
— Krish Jagarlamudi (@DirKrish) January 30, 2019
But the ugly spat doesn’t end here. Rangoli made a rebuttal and accused Krish of not having worked along with Kangana’s team. She said that he had finished only 30% shoot of the film. “Your team never worked with Kangana. She had her own camera and AD team, which is credited separately in the film also,” she alleged.
Your team never worked with Kangana she had her own camera and AD team, which is credited separately in the film also...like we said you had completed the film from which only 30 percent is used ( which is not shot by you solo but shot by Nick) ..so they all can go bla bla .. https://t.co/khuwyfTTbH
— Rangoli Chandel (@Rangoli_A) January 30, 2019
After the war of words, it remains to be seen if Kangana herself will step in to provide some clarity. According to her sister, she is shooting in Germany and is ‘hurt’ by the controversies.
A couple of other directors like Pooja Bhatt, Bejoy Nambiar and writer Apurva Asrani have backed Krish. However, some users have also wondered why Krish didn’t come out in public sooner, before the film had released.