Kangana exits Anurag Basu's 'Imali'

Mumbai: Actor Kangana Ranaut has opted out of filmmaker Anurag Basu’s next “Imali” as she wants to focus more on her directorial venture.

The project, which will also feature Rajkummar Rao, would have marked her third collaboration with Basu after her debut “Gangster” and “Life in a Metro”.

The actor said “Imali” was supposed to go on floors in November 2018 but she had to direct and reshoot “Manikarnika”, so the film was pushed.

“Anurag and I have spoken about it. I feel extremely bad because ‘Imali’ was giving me an opportunity to work with my mentor again, but I’m on the verge of announcing my own film in a few weeks from now. That has taken a lot of my time and I have conveyed it to Anurag, who understood my situation,” she said in a statement.

The actor said her focus right now is on her next directorial. “We will work together at some point. ‘Imali’ is a beautiful love story and we can do that later. But right now, my focus is on my next directorial venture.”

Kangana is currently working on three films — “Mental Hai Kya”, “Panga” and the recently announced Jayalalithaa biopic.