Lasyapriya Sundaram (BOMBAY TIMES; November 29, 2018)

Kangana Ranaut is currently shooting the sports film Panga, with filmmaker Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari, in Bhopal, but the actress recently flew down to Mumbai to supervise the edit of her upcoming epic venture, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi. Ask her if overseeing the editing process of this film is a first for her and whether it was a challenge to take over the reins, the actress says, “This is not my first experience, as far as supervising the edit or even directing a film is concerned. I was 23 or 24, when I directed my first film. It was a 10-minute short film that I had shot with an international crew. Also, at that time, I was struggling with small roles in films like Double Dhamaal (2011). So, I have been a director since then. Be it direction, writing or editing, I have already done it all in the past.”

Kangana says, “When everyone asks me, if Manikarnika is my first film as a director, my reply is, of course not. It’s not my first film as a director. You don’t direct a big epic period as your first film. Plus, I had already faced my share of challenges with the film that I had directed in the past because it was VFX heavy. I have also struggled with VFX in those days, but that was long ago.”

The actress further adds, “If Manikarnika was my first experience (as a director), I would have been like a deer in headlights, because there is so much to do. My skills as a director and performer have sharpened since I directed a short film. I absolutely love directing and sitting on a film’s edit because it is another level of involvement. I have written for films officially and maybe, it wasn’t a solo endeavour, but that also makes me a bona fide writer. I have studied film writing in one of the best institutes in the world. So, ‘I want to be a director’ is an inappropriate thing to say because I am a director.”

The actress also shares that while she is acting in one film, she is participating in the edit of another and by doing so, she is not breaking new ground or trying to be different. Kangana says, “It’s not about breaking new ground. When I was 23 or 24, I was collecting money to go to the US to learn filmmaking, because some of the best films in the world are made there. I had the humility at that time to venture into filmmaking, when I wasn’t getting good work as an actor. I also understood that being an artiste doesn’t mean doing only one thing. I decided to learn something new. You have to relentlessly pursue what you want to do.”

Quiz her if she is invested in Manikarnika to a large extent, because it is important for her that this film hits the right note, so that it will encourage many other leading ladies to frontline an epic drama on their own accord, and she adds, “Every film that I do is important to me because I have committed myself to it. I have taken money and I have assured absolute involvement to the team. But Manikarnika has demanded a lot more of my attention than I intended to give it. I did lose control over things, especially when it came like a hurricane and the way things unfolded overnight. I had to shoot this film amidst a lot of challenges and that was a bit unsettling in the beginning. I had time constraints and bringing the crew together was a struggle, which I wasn’t ready for, but I surpassed that. Later on, of course, I was in my comfort zone and ready to direct. Eventually, I enjoyed it a lot.”