Kangna Ranaut is turning director, would direct a biopic after Rani Lakshmibai

By Joginder Tuteja -

February 28, 2017 - 10:41 AM IST

It is official. Kangna Ranaut has decided to turn director. The subject in question is a biopic and the actress has already started preparing for her new role. "Her Rangoon has released and Simran would be arriving in September this year. Meanwhile, she is also starting the shoot of Rani Lakshmibai very soon. Once she would be through wrapping up the Ketan Mehta film, she would head straight into her directorial venture. That would be sometime next year," informs our well-placed source.

Kangna Ranaut is turning director, would direct a biopic after Rani Lakshmibai

This would pretty much make Kangna the only leading actress of the current times to be coming behind the camera as well. "What is further remarkable is the fact that she is doing this now itself," a close associate comments, "She could have signed multiple films as an actress after Tanu Weds Manu Returns but she decided to wait. Now that she is getting ready for her Simran followed by a biopic Rani Laxmibai, her next target is another biopic. There is a very good probability that she would be casting herself as the central protagonist in the film, hence playing the dual role of a director as well as the actress."

For someone who made her debut a little more than a decade ago with Gangster [2006], it would be pretty much a swift transition into a new role for Kangna.

"She is clearly looking at a step ahead," our source adds, "While her contemporaries like Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra have been wooing the West, Kangna clearly intends to stay closer home and extend her Bollywood innings by being unique in her career choices. The character of Rani Laxmibai is the role of a lifetime for her. She is clearly thinking about what next she could get on her platter after that. There is a saturation point that an actress gets and at this stage of her career when she is clearly calling the shots, it makes sense to do that in all aspects while being on the sets."

Meanwhile, there isn't anything new that she has signed as an actress as all her concentration would be on Rani Laxmibai followed by her own directorial venture.

"That's correct, I need growth in some other dimension now," confirms Kangna when quizzed around her decision to turn director, "There is so much to do in Rani Laxmibai that after that I am pretty much seeing a dead end creatively. There doesn't seem to be anything beyond that where I could reach out. A film of mine has to be something else; the role that I play has to be something remarkable. I am looking at a step ahead and direction is the next logical thing for me. To direct a biopic next is something that is happening for sure."

Ask her the subject of the biopic and she comes up with a hearty laugh, "Yeh toh 2019 ki baat ho gayi ab. Thoda time dete hain saari details dene mein. Rani Laxmibai ke baad banaani hai movie. I am ready for it though. Bring it on!"