Manikarnika, The Queen of Jhansi was touted as Kangana Ranaut’s most ambitious project. The shooting of the film started in October, 2017 under the directorial skills of Krish. After 8 months of shooting, Krish walked out of the film citing prior commitment to other projects (NTR Biopic) .
There were rumours that Kangana Ranaut was interfering with the writing and direction and Krish did not take this well and allegedly walked out of the project. Sonu Sood also left the film saying that he can not work under two directors on a set and his portions in the film were reshot with Mohammed Zeeshan Ayub. This caused delay in the shoot and increased the production cost of the film.
In the first half we are introduced to a young Manikarnika who is brave, confident and loves reading books. She is married off to Gangadhar Rao and later becomes the Queen of Jhansi. In the first half we see Kangana Ranaut in heavy sarees and jewellery sporting different hairstyles, looking like a dream. With her actions she keeps reminding the audience that she is a born rebel. There is a scene where the Queen tells the Firangis, “Of course I know English. It’s a mere language. Language, without culture, is empty.”
The Queen is then seen dancing with the tribals which according to the writer of the film forms the basis of her bonding with Jhalkari Bai.
Kangana Ranaut was so much involved in this project that there isn't a scene where she is not there. With her taking most of the screen space there wasn't much scope for other actors.
TV actress, Ankita Lokhande, makes her Bollywood debut as Jhalkari Bai and even though she had few scenes, she manages to leave an impact.
Danny Denzongpa as Ghulam Ghaus Khan is perfectly casted but like other actors he has nothing much to do.
In the second half there are few war scenes which are shot on a grand scale but overall the film lacks the passion & energy associated with such mega-budget period films.
The song, “Main rahoon ya naa rahoon, Bharat yeh rehna chahiye” plays throughout the film to evoke the feeling of love and sacrifice for the motherland.
The film has started off on a low note (may collect around 8-9 Crores) and may collect around 35 Crores over the weekend which is less considering its production costs (around 120 Crores).
In a line, Manikarnika is totally a one woman show and even though Kangana Ranaut has given her best, a slow first half and less focus on supporting characters will make it a loss making proposition.
