‘Manikarnika’: Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub on replacing Sonu Sood in the historical drama

Kangana Ranaut starrer ‘Manikarnika-The Queen Of Jhansi’ has been in news ever since its announcement. After the exit of the film’s first director Krish, Sonu Sood too walked away from the war drama citing commitments to his other projects. He was supposed to play the character of Sadashivrao Bhau in the biographical drama. Post his exit, actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub was roped in Sonu’s place.

In an interaction with ZoomTV.com, the ‘Tanu Weds Manu’ actor spoke at length about his role and working with Kangana Ranaut. He said that he doesn’t feel any burden as he wasn’t part of any controversy. “I don’t feel any burden because I wasn’t a part of any controversy. I was clean. I got a call from Kangana and she wanted me to play a character. For me, it was like somebody approached me for a character, I read the script and the next day, all the controversies came to light, ” shared Ayyub. 

On being asked about replacing Sonu, Ayyub said that he doesn’t like the word ‘replaced’. “I knew that Sonu Sood was not playing the character because of some date issue. I wasn’t a part of the film for one and a half year, something must have happened,” added the actor.

Sharing about how he treated the role very differently, the actor said, “I believe Sonu would have treated the role differently. I have treated it very differently.”

Zeeshan further said that she(Kangana)knew what she wanted from him as an actor and that according to him is one of the best parts about a director if they know what exactly they want.

Also starring Ankita Lokhande, Atul Kulkarni and Danny Denzongpa in pivotal roles, ‘Manikarnika’ is all set to hit the silver screens on January 25, 2019.

Also Read: ‘Manikarnika’ Trailer: Twitterati feels Kangana starrer will be a ‘blockbuster’; see reactions