Highly anticipated period drama ‘Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi‘ hit theatres this Friday and needless to say, noted actress Kangana Ranaut as the Queen stole the show. The three-hour film delivers what it promised and what we as an audience expected.
The story portrayed is as it is, which we all have read or heard from our grandparents at some point in our lives, with some creative alterations. The almost three-hour movie, with several battle scenes, does not look long or boring at any point. It is all very simple, without any complexity.
The filmmakers including co-director Kangana have revived Manu’s (short for Manikarnika) story from the Ganga Ghats of Banaras to Jhansi, very effectively. One can not take his eyes off the powerful Kangana, who plays her part with so much ease.
The film has the best-supporting actors any film could ever have. All the stars, viz, Jisshu Sengupta, Atul Kulkarni (Tantya Tope), Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Ankita Lokhande, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Danny Denzongpa (Ghaus baba), and Richard Keep stood tall with the female lead to make it pride and patriotism based brilliant movie.
Although some of them did not have a lot to play and got less time on screen, none of them had blink and miss moment. They made every second they were on the screen, count.
Starting with the Manu’s childhood to her adulthood and then marriage, the film unveils almost all the aspect of her life. It also showcases the story of 1857 mutiny major uprising in India during 1857–58 against the British rule.
All in all, ‘Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi’ glorifies the first empowered Indian women who decided to fight instead of surrendering, to fulfill Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s dream of self-rule (Swaraj).