Kangana pulled off smoother stunts than Tom Cruise, says Manikarnika action director

Mumbai: Kangana Ranaut will be seen as Manikarnika Tambe aka Rani of Jhansi in her upcoming film 'Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi'. The period drama tells the story of fearless woman who fiercely tore the British flag, and ripped apart their soldiers single-handedly with her sword and anger. In the recently revealed teaser of the film, Kangana looked extremely convincing while taking on the enemies, riding the horse, and attacking them with swords, guns or the bow and arrow.

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In a conversation with Mid-Day, Hollywood stunt director Nick Powell was all prise for ‘Queen’ star as he revealed that Kangana insisted on doing all the action sequences by herself which left him mighty impressed with her immense dedication. Interestingly, Powell has worked with Hollywood biggies like 'Gladiator' fame Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and many others.

He told the tabloid, “Kangana insisted on doing all the action herself. The idea was to show a warrior who has been learning the ropes from a young age. Kangana practised sword fighting for eight hours a day, and convincingly pulled off each stunt. I have worked with the likes of Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt, but she gave me the unique experience in which an actress was leading the pack. There were times when she pulled off smoother stunts than Tom Cruise.”

He added, "They (filmmakers) wanted to better what they had achieved. So when I requested for an additional crew of 25 experts who specialise in rope work and sword fights, they immediately agreed."

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Written by ‘Baahubali’ writer V Vijeyandra Prasad and directed by Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi aka Krish, ‘Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi’ is set to release on January 25, 2019.