Acclaimed Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi, known for making Children of Heaven and The Song of Sparrows, is making his Indian debut with Beyond the Clouds. The movie is much in news for being the adult debut of Ishaan Khatter, who will also be seen later this year in Dhadak, opposite Janhvi Kapoor. Malayalam actress Malavika Mohanan plays his elder sister in the movie, in an equally important role.

If you are not aware of this, Mohanan was not the first choice to take on the role of Tara. We had earlier seen pictures of Deepika Padukone doing a screen-test for the role at Dhobi Ghat, though things didn't work out. There were also reports that Kangana Ranaut was considered for the role. However, Pinkvilla had quoted the actress, where she revealed that she declined the role because she found it to be very 'submissive'. She had said, "It’s a brother-sister story where the brother is the one doing all the fighting. Since I’m jumping straight into Ketan Mehta’s Jhansi ki Rani, who was an iconic heroine, why would I take on such a submissive role?"

However, recently in an interview to PTI, Majid Majidi refuted these claims of Kangana, saying that she didn't decline the role. He revealed, "With Kangana, we could not work together. I heard something from her office and that made me upset. She had said ‘I did not accept the role’, which was not true. Then we followed it up and it was not Kangana but her office that had published this."

So why has it taken so long for Majidi to react to this? The director has an answer for that, and he also expresses his desire to work with Kangana in the future. Majidi continued, “I mention this because I never reacted to what she said. I feel now I can say this. We did have some meetings, we talked together. I don’t want to go into detail. The only thing I want to say is that it is not true that she did not accept the role. She is a very good actress. I hope to work with Kangana in the future."

So will Kangana Ranaut stand up and clear the air on this?

Beyond the Clouds has released this Friday to positive reviews, with critics singling out Ishaan Khatter's performance for praise.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2018 04:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).