None of Us Expected Competition From ‘Uri’: Kangana

The film has earned over Rs 100 crores at the box office.

Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika has been competing with Vicky Kaushal’s Uri. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Kangana Ranaut’s period drama Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi recently crossed the Rs 100 crore club despite courting controversy. The release of the film - 25 January - clashed with Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer Thackeray, a biopic on the late Shiv Sena leader, but it was Vicky Kaushal’s Uri, which has proved to be bigger competition despite having hit theatres on 11 January. Uri has earned over Rs 200 crore at the box office.

Speaking to mid-day Kangana said,

“None of us expected the competition we got from Uri. It was another patriotic film that shared the same theme - fighting back for the nation. It was in its third week, but it still put up quite a tough fight.”

Kangana Ranaut, Actor

Kangana and the film’s co-director Krish have been at loggerheads over directorial credit but according to her, the controversy surrounding the film hasn’t affected its success. She said that she sees it as a “good fight, where the cast and crew are bickering over who owns the movie more” and that Manikarnika hasn’t seen “negativity outside of the [film] industry”.

“Nothing succeeds like success. These people would have disowned the film if it was bad. These are the people who had abandoned it. [But] this is a good fight, where the cast and crew are bickering over who owns the movie more. We were able to make a clean film, no one has blamed me for distorting history. Personally, there is no controversy of great magnitude here. I don’t see any negativity attached to it outside the industry. I am satisfied with the audience’s response.”  

Kangana Ranaut