Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi is a 2019 Indian epic biographical period drama[2] film based on the life of the Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi.[5] It is directed by Krish and Kangana Ranaut and produced by Zee Studios in association with Kamal Jain and Nishant Pitti. The film stars Kangana Ranaut in the title role.[6]
A special screening of the film was organized by Zee Entertainment for Ram Nath Kovind, the President of India, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Cultural Centre on 18 January in presence of Kangana Ranaut and her team before release of the film on 25 January 2019.[7] After watching the film the President felicitated the artists and crew of the film.[8]
The film was released on 3700 screens in 50 countries worldwide in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu on January 25th 2019.[9][10] The film was received well by the critics and the audiences with praises directed especially towards Ranaut's performance.[11]
Plot
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi film begins with the birth of Manikarnika in the ghats of Varanasi. She is raised by the Bajirao in Bithoor and her father, Moropant. A young blossoming Manu is spotted by Jhansi’s minister, Dixit-Ji, slaying a tiger. Impressed by her feat, he proposes marriage between her and the King of Maratha ruled princely state of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao. The marriage is celebrated and addended by the Jhansi residents among whom a loud, spunky woman named Jhalkarbai makes her way to the front along with her husband Puran Singh to take a peek at their new queen. Manikarnika’s name is officially changed to “Lakshmi bai”
The newly wed king and queen spend time together and develop a strong bond. Queen Lakshmi Bai learns and refutes the traditional womanly duties and takes a keen interest in learning about the political atmosphere of Jhansi and the state of the country instead. She is outraged as she discovers that her husband, the king of Jhansi, has to bow his head to a British officer, Gordon. She does not bow her head enraging Gordon.
Jhalkaribai’s calf 'Nandu' is abducted by some British officers prompting her to go after them only to get badly beaten up. When Lakshmi bai learns about this cruelty, she confronts the officers speaking to them in fluent English to their surprise and announcing that all the livestock in Jhansi is the property of the king and will not be taken by the East India Company without permission. Lakshmi bai returns Nandu and the two women develop a friendship. Amidst celebrations, Lakshmi bai learns she is pregnant and is overjoyed. She gives birth to a boy, Damodar Rao.
Sadashiv Rao is seen plotting against the king with the British officers who have promised him a part of the estate when Jhansi is conquered by the company. Sadashiv is briefly seen side-eyeing a maid to carry holy water to the naming ceremony of the baby, implying that he is behind the poisoning that eventually kills Damodar Rao and leaves the king weak and on his deathbed. To have an heir for the succession of the Jhansi throne, the king decides to adopt a child. Much to Sadashiv's dismay, his son is not adopted by the king and a civilian toddler that happens to run towards Lakshmi Bai is named the heir of Jhansi. His name is changed as Lakshmi bai instinctively calls him Damodar. Sadashiv revolts and refuses to bow down to the future queen regent Lakshmi Bai and is banished from Jhansi.
A few months into the future, after king Gangadhar Rao's death, Lakshmi bai refuses to enter the rituals of widowhood and rather takes on the responsibility of the throne to fulfill the promise she made to her late husband. This does not go down well with the East India Company and they ask her to hand over the kingdom. When forced to vacate the palace, she walks gracefully into the village and is welcomed and greeted by a massive parade of villagers led by Jhalkari bai, further enraging the company officers. The queen continues to live among the civilians to quietly strategize to get her kingdom back in power.
The company requests the British government to appoint Sr. Hugh Rose to salvage the situation and remove Lakshmi bai from the throne permanently. Knowing very well that she will soon be attacked again, Lakshmi bai begins training her own army and especially women to fight. In the meanwhile, Sadashiv conjures a mutiny resulting in the deaths of many innocent British women and children in addition to British officers and blames it on Rani Lakshmi bai to prompt Hugh Rose to attack and demolish her. On the way to Jhansi, Rose hangs a girl simply because her name is Lakshmi.
During the siege of Jhansi, the queen valiantly steps into the battle field to destroy the British canons strategically placed in front of a temple. The strong castle walls keep the queen and her army safe until Sadashiv Rao divulges secrets about the castle to the British who finally break the siege and manage and attack, resulting in the death of Gaus-Baba. Jhalkari bai, despite discovering that she is pregnant becomes a decoy pretending to be the queen. She manages to get all the British soldiers to follow her and distracts them enough for Lakshmi bai to safely escape the castle with Damodar Rao. Jhalkari bai sacrifices herself in a major gun powder explosion killing numerous British officers along with.
Lost everything but her love for the country, Lakshmi bai escapes to Kalpi to reunite with Tatya Tope and other former allies. She recaptures Gwalior and motivates the Maratha soldiers to participate in the independence war. With a heavy heart, Lakshmi bai leaves Damodar Rao with her childhood friend and attendant, Kashi and leads an attack on the British army. She fights with all her might and is ultimately shot. Instead of giving up on life and submitting to the British army, Lakshmi bai looks Hugh Rose in the eye and steps into flames in order to avoid the desecration of her body.
Cast
Kangana Ranaut as Rani Laxmibai (Manikarnika aka Manu)
Atul Kulkarni as Tatya Tope[12]
Jisshu Sengupta as Gangadhar Rao
Richard Keep as General Hugh Rose[13]
Suresh Oberoi as Bajirao II[14]
Danny Denzongpa as Ghulam Ghaus Khan
Vaibhav Tatwawaadi as Puran Singh
Ankita Lokhande as Jhalkaribai[15]
Yash Tonk as Rao Tula Ram
R. Bhakti Klein as Lord Canning
Mishti as Kashibai[16]
Unnati Davara as Mundar
Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub as Sadashiv [17]
Rajiv Kachroo as Gul Mohamad
Nihar Pandya as Pran Sukh Yadav
Taher Shabbir as Sangram Singh[18]
Kulbhushan Kharbanda as Dixit Ji
Manish Wadhwa as Moropant
Nalneesh Neel as Teer Singh
Production
In Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi Sukant Panigrahy, Sriram Iyengar and Sujeet Sawant are production designers of the film. Sujeet and Sriram have also done production designing for Bajirao Mastani .[19]
Principal photography completed in October 2018.[20] By that time, only 10 days of patch work left. Krish wanted to do that patch work and to direct N. T. R. simultaneously. But after that Sonu sood was replaced by Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub. With this change, the movie team was in the situation to shoot all the scenes which involved Sonu Sood again. As Krish was busy in directing N. T. R., Ranaut took over, making her directorial debut. Both she and Krish will receive director's credit.[21] [22] [23]
Music
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi film's soundtrack is composed by
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and lyrics written by
Prasoon Joshi. Background Score by Sanchit Balhara and Aknit Balhara.
Hindi Tracklist
No.
Title
Lyrics
Singer(s)
Length
1.
"Bharat"
Prasoon Joshi
Shankar Mahadevan
4:00
2.
"Vijayi Bhava"
Prasoon Joshi
Shankar Mahadevan
4:23
3.
"Bolo Kab Pratikar Karoge"
Prasoon Joshi
Sukhwinder Singh
3:16
4.
"Rajaji"
Prasoon Joshi
Pratibha Singh Baghel, Ravi Mishra
5:17
5.
"Shiv Tandav"
Prasoon Joshi
Shankar Mahadevan
6.
"Tak Taki"
Prasoon Joshi
Pratibha Singh Baghel
4:17
7.
"Dankila"
Prasoon Joshi
Prajakta Shukre, Shrinidhi Ghatate, Siddharth Mahadevan, Arunaja, Chotu Singh Rawna, Hemant Brijwasi
3:44
8.
"Bharat" (ft Prasoon Joshi)
Prasoon Joshi
Shankar Mahadevan, Prasoon Joshi
3:56
Total length: 31:37
Telugu Tracklist
No.
Title
Lyrics
Singer(s)
Length
1.
"Bharath Vardhillaali"
Chaitanya Prasad
Shankar Mahadevan
4:00
2.
"Vijayibhava"
Chaitanya Prasad
Shankar Mahadevan, Hamsika Iyer
4:23
3.
"Cheppara Nee Prathikaaram Epudo"
Chaitanya Prasad
Shriram Iyer
3:16
4.
"Naa Raja"
Chaitanya Prasad
Mahalakshmi Iyer, Shriram Iyer
5:17
5.
"Shiv Tandav"
Prasoon Joshi
Shankar Mahadevan
2:44
6.
"Raa Kannaa"
Chaitanya Prasad
Hamsika Iyer
4:17
7.
"Rae... Raelaa Rae"
Chaitanya Prasad
Mahalakshmi Iyer, Hamsika Iyer, Siddharth Mahadevan
3:44
Total length: 28:41
Tamil Tracklist
No.
Title
Lyrics
Singer(s)
Length
1.
"Bhaaradham"
Madhan Karky
Shankar Mahadevan
4:00
2.
"Jeyam Unadhae"
Madhan Karky
Shankar Mahadevan, Hamsika Iyer
4:23
3.
"Sollaay"
Madhan Karky
Shriram Iyer
3:16
4.
"Koamaanae"
Madhan Karky
Mahalakshmi Iyer, Shriram Iyer
5:17
5.
"Sivam Sivam"
Madhan Karky
Renjith Unni, Jithin Raj, Shenbagaraj
2:44
6.
"Kannaa Vaa"
Madhan Karky
Hamsika Iyer
4:17
7.
"Nanjukku"
Madhan Karky
Mahalakshmi Iyer, Hamsika Iyer, Siddharth Mahadevan
3:44
Total length: 28:41
Marketing and release
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi first poster was released on 15 August 2018[25]. A short official teaser of the film was released on 2 October 2018[26]. The official trailer of the film was released on 18 December 2018.[27][19] Theatrical posters of the film were released in two languages for simultaneous release of the film in Tamil and Telugu with Hindi version on 4 January 2019.[28] Trailers of Manikarnika:The Queen Of Jhansi in Telugu & Tamil have been released simultaneously on 4th January at Hyderabad & Chennai.[29][30][31]
Manikarnika The Queen Of Jhansi Official Music Launch took place on 9th January. The Video Song from Manikarnika Titled as "Vijayi Bhava" was put out for public viewing on the same day.[32] A jukebox of full film audio songs was released on YouTube on 11 January 2019.[33] Short video teasers of dialogues and prominent scenes of the film were posted on facebook page of Zee Studios for viewers.[34]
Release
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi film is certified UA (Parental Guidance for children below the age of 12 years) by CBFC of India and the film is set to release on schedule. Its runtime is 148 minutes.[35] The film released on 3700 screens in 50 countries worldwide in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu simultaneously. [36] [37]
Reception
Critical Response
The film holds a score of 50% on Rotten Tomatoes based on six critics reviews. The audience response is 86% based on 10 audience reviews.[38]
Shibaji Roychoudhury of Times Now News rating the film 4 stars out of 5 gives his final thoughts as "Overall, Manikarnika has many moments of genius and enough fire to keep you glued to the screen. Kangana’s performance as Rani of Jhansi is worth every penny spent. So, if you are looking to feel patriotic this Republic Day and watch a visually stunning bit of cinema, go for this one with friends and family and you’ll have a great time at the theatres."[39]
Namrata Joshi of The Hindu news paper wrote: "Ranaut doesn’t just share the director’s credit; she overshadows all of the cast, including veterans like Danny Denzongpa and consummate performers like Atul Kulkarni and Mohd Zeeshan Ayub. It’s evident that Ranaut has put her all into the film and she's present in practically every frame.But what you go back home with after the film is not a compelling performance, but the gorgeous textile and jewellery she wears, the trailing pallu and hair blowing fetchingly in the wind, the agile swordplay, choreographed stunts, the many hops, skips and jumps and tonsil-revealing roars of “Har Har Mahadev” and “Azaadi”. [40]
Tushar P. Joshi of BollywoodLife also rated the film 4 stars out of 5 saying "Kangana Ranaut delivers a performance par excellence in this realistic story of the warrior princess Lakshmibai". He noted that the length of the film is an issue and criticized the editing and also mentioned that the songs in this movie could have been more situational. He further added, "Manikarnika is a must watch for the glory that Kangana brings to the experience of watching the life and time of one of Indian history's bravest warriors. Don’t miss this one." [41]
Rating the movie 4 stars out of 5, Meena Iyer of DNA India praised the film saying "Kangana Ranaut infuses life into the braveheart queen. Kangana, who wears two hats that of the protagonist and the co-director displays a certain maturity on both counts." Iyer also mentioned that the performances by the supporting cast were brief yet noteworthy. She further added "The grandeur and the detailing of the war scenes lend the movie a storybook quality and one is quite mesmerised by the scale. KV Vijayendra Prasad, who wrote Baahubali, whips up an engaging screenplay. Prasoon Joshi has penned some fiery dialogue and lyrics with a patriotic fervour. Songs like Vijayi Bhava and Bharat stir up nationalistic emotions. The war sequences are tastefully choreographed by Hollywood imports Nick Powell and Todor Lazarov as well as desi action coordinators, Riyaz and Habib."[42]
Bolly Bazinga rated Manikarnika 4 stars out of 5, saying "This film belongs to Kangana Ranaut and she essays her character like no female character in the history of Bollywood. From script to screenplay, BGM, Cinematography and VFX, the film keeps you glued to your seat." The review further went on to say that it is a 'no nonsense' film and "loved it because it’s really the blood and soul of Kangana Ranaut we saw in every frame of the movie."[43]
Ronak Kotecha of The Times of India gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars[44], saying that the film was one of Ranaut's best performances and that she "captivates your attention in every frame...Kangana effortlessly brings Manikarnika to life." However he noted that the supporting actors didn't get as much emphasis, and that the first half of the film seemed too long. The film had a grand feel but lacked the "required opulence and finesse." He commended the dialogues by Prasoon Joshi as being impactful, and the music strong; however he also noted that the length of the film seems to "slacken the narrative" at times. Finally, he states that Ranaut's debut directorial film and performance was a success, and keeps you invested throughout.[44]
Anita Ayer of the Khaleej Times also gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars[45], saying that Ranaut's "grit and fierce act" does justice to her role, and that the film sensitively depicts the struggles of violence in the period. She commends the film for not "forcing feminism" on the viewer, but rather interweaving it with natural storytelling and incidents. Ankita Lokhande also gets a few scenes to shine in. The film is not as opulent visually, but the powerful dialogues, good screenplay and acting make up for it. The music by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy is also strongly rousing and well-used near the finale.[45]
Taran Adarsh giving 3.5 stars out of 5 says in 'One Word Review: Manikarnika: POWERFUL' He continues stating "Inspiring movie that has scale and soul. Kangana, take a bow. You’re terrific. First half could be tighter. Second half awe inspiring. Climax brilliant. Power, pride, patriotism - this has it all.[46]
Anupama Chopra rated the movie 3 stars out of 5 saying "Kangana Ranaut is on fire as the iconic Rani Lakshmibai. Her spine is erect, her eyes are unblinking and she seems propelled by some other-worldly power. She’s riding horses, wielding swords, leaping on elephants and making it all look plausible. When she looks into camera and insists on dying for the country, you want to follow her into battle." She mentioned that the film wobbles because the screenplay does not give the supporting cast much opportunity to build their characters. She missed the subtlety in the dialogues and criticized the inept CGI work especially in the battle scenes and said at 2 hours and 28 minutes the movie is unforgivably long. [47]
Namrata Joshi of The Hindu news paper wrote: "Ranaut doesn’t just share the director’s credit; she overshadows all of the cast, including veterans like Danny Denzongpa and consummate performers like Atul Kulkarni and Mohd Zeeshan Ayub. It’s evident that Ranaut has put her all into the film and she's present in practically every frame.But what you go back home with after the film is not a compelling performance, but the gorgeous textile and jewellery she wears, the trailing pallu and hair blowing fetchingly in the wind, the agile swordplay, choreographed stunts, the many hops, skips and jumps and tonsil-revealing roars of “Har Har Mahadev” and “Azaadi”. [48]
Box office
The first day collection of the film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi from India is ₹8.75 crore.[49] On it's second day film picked up pace due to Republic Day holiday and collected ₹18.10 crore.[50] The overseas collection is ₹7.09 crore. The worldwide gross collection at the box office stands at ₹41.51 crore[4]
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