According to IANS, Mehta said: "Yes it is true. We have sent a notice to Kangana as I think there is an attempt of hijacking a film."

"I had approached her in June 2015 regarding this project and she had readily agreed to do it and enough statements have been made by her showing the commitment about the project," Mehta said.

Mehta alleged that he shared the "script and research material" of the film with Kangana in June 2015 and that she gave her consent for the project. But later, the ‘Queen’ actress retracted and recently announced another film on Rani Laxmibai titled ‘Manikarnika – The Queen of Jhansi’, with producer Kamal Jain.

The filmmaker, who has worked with some of the biggest stars in the Indian film industry, says he is in deep shock and has never faced a situation like this before.

"It's my dream project and I have been working on it for 10 years. This has been a life-long ambition. I have worked with stars like Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Naseeruddin Shah, but this has never happened to me. This is unethical."

The news of Mehta's notice comes soon after writer-editor Apurva Asrani expressed dissatisfaction over how Kangana took additional credit for the story in the upcoming film Simran.