Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi Movie Review - Warrior Within
Manikarnika, as the title suggests, is a biographical drama about Rani Laxmibai and her exceptional display of bravery in the fight for Independence against the Britishers.
Cast - Kangana Ranaut, Atul Kulkarni, Jisshu Sengupta, Richard Keep, Danny Denzongpa, Ankita Lokhande, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Directed By - Krish, Kangana Ranaut
Genre - Biographical Drama, Action
We start with Amitabh Bachchan's voice in the background, and a map of India displayed on the screen. A kind of opening scene which we have seen a hundred times before in many earlier TV shows and movies. So, it does feel a bit nostalgic to watch it again in 2019. Anyways, we first see Manikarnika (Kangana Ranaut) aiming an arrow towards a tiger which she knocks down unconscious instead of killing it. Impressed by her skills, Jhansi's minister, Dixit-Ji (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) offers a marriage proposal between her and the King of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao (Jisshu Sengupta).
When Dixit-Ji arrives with the proposal, we see Manikarnika in a sword fight with her siblings. This well-choreographed sequence goes further than necessary to establish the heroic nature of the character which ends up with her jumping on top of an elephant. Many more unnecessary, over-stretched scenes follow later in the film. When Manikarnika hesitates to accept the proposal, she and indirectly we, get treated to a song that implies the priority of our motherland. The actors struggle to lip sync creating an unintentionally funny scene in the process.
It is then you realise that this movie is no different than the million other biopics you would have previously encountered. The beats are familiar with no effort to create a change. The formula is tried and tested with a safe marking. I have said it before, and I would say it again, my problem with these biopics is that they induce stupid scenes and melodrama in a source material that is already filled with all the necessary ingredients of compelling storytelling.
Lakshmi Bai is a fascinating character, and her life is already an inspiring one. Her name itself fills many hearts with pride. And so I don't need those heavily used slow-motion walks to feel her powerful presence nor do I need an unnecessary scene involving her riding an untameable mad horse.
The first half is filled with repetitive scenes having a problem that is solved by Lakshmi Bai and then a song. These events happen in a loop before the interval. Songs are another certain ingredient in a Bollywood film. The industry is obsessive on having them. It's more like a package that comes ready-made with the Hindi movies. Already the actors don't do a good job with the lip syncing and on top of that you stuff songs after almost every scene. But a dance sequence that really got on my nerves was the one with Ankita Lokhande's character in it.
If I have made this sound like a terrible film then that is because the negatives dominate the positive aspects here, of course, Kangana is out-and-out ferocious and a suitable choice to play the character. Her commanding posture, swift sword fights and thunderous voice leave a lasting impression. When the camera looks at her with a low-angle shot, you feel her heroic presence on screen. The costumes are gorgeous. The other characters are there to extend the patriotism of Lakshmi Bai as they give her an opportunity to mouth some chest thumping dialogues. The filmmakers even go as far as to make her look directly at the camera while making one of her speeches to wake up the dead souls in the theatres. The CGI gets worse as the scale increases.
In case after all this if you might have forgotten the sacrifices and the change she went through, then don't worry. The film makes sure to spoon feed you her transition with a flashback during an intense sequence.
If only Manikarnika had the courage like the character it praises about and would have slain all the traditional cliches, this could have been a modern tale for the centuries. But one can only speculate how inspiring it could all have looked like if only it would have taken risks like the Queen of Jhansi.
Rating - 2/5
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Cast - Kangana Ranaut, Atul Kulkarni, Jisshu Sengupta, Richard Keep, Danny Denzongpa, Ankita Lokhande, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Kulbhushan Kharbanda
Directed By - Krish, Kangana Ranaut
Genre - Biographical Drama, Action
We start with Amitabh Bachchan's voice in the background, and a map of India displayed on the screen. A kind of opening scene which we have seen a hundred times before in many earlier TV shows and movies. So, it does feel a bit nostalgic to watch it again in 2019. Anyways, we first see Manikarnika (Kangana Ranaut) aiming an arrow towards a tiger which she knocks down unconscious instead of killing it. Impressed by her skills, Jhansi's minister, Dixit-Ji (Kulbhushan Kharbanda) offers a marriage proposal between her and the King of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao (Jisshu Sengupta).
When Dixit-Ji arrives with the proposal, we see Manikarnika in a sword fight with her siblings. This well-choreographed sequence goes further than necessary to establish the heroic nature of the character which ends up with her jumping on top of an elephant. Many more unnecessary, over-stretched scenes follow later in the film. When Manikarnika hesitates to accept the proposal, she and indirectly we, get treated to a song that implies the priority of our motherland. The actors struggle to lip sync creating an unintentionally funny scene in the process.
It is then you realise that this movie is no different than the million other biopics you would have previously encountered. The beats are familiar with no effort to create a change. The formula is tried and tested with a safe marking. I have said it before, and I would say it again, my problem with these biopics is that they induce stupid scenes and melodrama in a source material that is already filled with all the necessary ingredients of compelling storytelling.
Lakshmi Bai is a fascinating character, and her life is already an inspiring one. Her name itself fills many hearts with pride. And so I don't need those heavily used slow-motion walks to feel her powerful presence nor do I need an unnecessary scene involving her riding an untameable mad horse.
The first half is filled with repetitive scenes having a problem that is solved by Lakshmi Bai and then a song. These events happen in a loop before the interval. Songs are another certain ingredient in a Bollywood film. The industry is obsessive on having them. It's more like a package that comes ready-made with the Hindi movies. Already the actors don't do a good job with the lip syncing and on top of that you stuff songs after almost every scene. But a dance sequence that really got on my nerves was the one with Ankita Lokhande's character in it.
If I have made this sound like a terrible film then that is because the negatives dominate the positive aspects here, of course, Kangana is out-and-out ferocious and a suitable choice to play the character. Her commanding posture, swift sword fights and thunderous voice leave a lasting impression. When the camera looks at her with a low-angle shot, you feel her heroic presence on screen. The costumes are gorgeous. The other characters are there to extend the patriotism of Lakshmi Bai as they give her an opportunity to mouth some chest thumping dialogues. The filmmakers even go as far as to make her look directly at the camera while making one of her speeches to wake up the dead souls in the theatres. The CGI gets worse as the scale increases.
In case after all this if you might have forgotten the sacrifices and the change she went through, then don't worry. The film makes sure to spoon feed you her transition with a flashback during an intense sequence.
If only Manikarnika had the courage like the character it praises about and would have slain all the traditional cliches, this could have been a modern tale for the centuries. But one can only speculate how inspiring it could all have looked like if only it would have taken risks like the Queen of Jhansi.
Rating - 2/5
Follow Me On:
Twitter - https://twitter.com/vikas_yadav98
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vikasy199/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/vimovies123/
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