Last week, casting director Mukesh Chhabra shared her first look from the film on his Instagram and captioned it: "Here is the official look of actress Ankita Lokhande as Jhalkari Bai in her debut film – 'Manikarnika. A woman soldier in Rani Laxmibai's army, Jhalkari Bai eventually rose to the position of an advisor to the Queen."
Sushant commented on the post: "It looks absolutely great Ankita. I am extremely happy to see this. May God bless you with lots of success and happiness."
Talking about the incident, Sushant said on Sunday: "I saw the picture and I really liked it. I wanted to congratulate her on that so, I did it."
When asked Sushant whether he congratulated Ankita personally on her Hindi film debut, he said, "I am the same person on the digital platform and in my real life so, whatever comment I made on that post was not to show off for people but I really wanted to congratulate her. She also replied to my comment then, I feel there wasn't need for any separate conversation."
The television industry is abuzz that she has been dating businessman Vicky Jain for a while now. He owns a team in the Box Cricket League. His pals include actors Mouni Roy and Arjun Bijlani with whom the two hang out with. Ankita prefers to be guarded about this relationship.