Manikarnika - honest effort trampled by sincere monopoly

The first thing I did on returning from a late night show of Manikarnika was to check if she and her horse did indeed make a jump from 30 feet high wall and land safely and gallop away into the sunset.  And that is not only of the cinematic liberty being referred to in the disclaimer. I had to reach back to my Amar Chitra Katha story book with wife and son giving me suspicious and worried glances as I pored through the story line wondering if Rani of Jhansi was an orphan found like Bahubali floating on the river bed and turning out to be as good a fighter as Tamanna oops …sorry wrong movie.

If you ignore these casual strays from possible history your heart will actually beat sympathetically for the sincerity of the lady who is the Bete Noire of a section of the Indian Film industry. Kangana looks worried about her own sincerity. There is a raw anger that she tries to fill the character of the bold queen with but none of that surprise creativity in her act comes through, possible as she seems to play safe here, widening her eyes in Quintessential fury that is representative of most of the folk heroes male of female that we have grown up admiring.

Kangana is unwaveringly focused on representing with fervor the patriotic leader of the mid-19^th century who was probably one of the first to stand up to the British. The problem is she does not seem to vary her pitch and appears to be monotonous displaying angry expressions and aggressive postures all the time. That somehow seems important to make up for lack of anecdotal content to reflect the pushback to the colonial rulers who as our history will have it are villains.

Even our own compatriot kings and small time provincial royalty are only too eager to given into the English traders. I wonder what the fascination with Bahubali is but every introduction scene these days seems to want to portray a princely human showing off sword fighting prowess and (even Padmavat fell into that trap recently) yes of course have a watery past growing up to be super human in their skill set aided by years of trawling the Jungles accompanied by loud orchestrated music that usually was used in the past to express grandeur.

The budget here is limited but the photographer and director (two of them including Kangana herself) use the props they have to best advantage and in most cases end up at least rescuing the movie from falling into a cardboard effects trap. The war scenes if you exclude the queens over dramatic pauses after every kill are actually good especially when the camera (and nowadays happily mounted on a drone) races with the horses at high speed and it is here you appreciate Kangana’s dedication as you make out her heroic efforts that seem to be partly genuine. Convincing in her gait and sword wielding skills Kangana sadly seems to compensate embarrassing blanks in the storyline with overtly angry expressions and flashily swishing around with her royal skirt. I think the pressures of having to complete the movie weighs down on her as she forgets her exemplary art and turns in a standard performance like any of her peers.

Cannot complain enough of the lack of any effort to create and flesh out stories of competent co actors around who lounge around glad that they get to say a mighty word or two and yes flash those furious looks and anger to make up for lack of ammunition.

The movie fails to impress on the younger generation which must be mostly oblivious to this history of the role played by our grand rulers of the past who first sounded the bugle of remonstration to the unfair colonial occupiers. Can barely remember the lackluster performance by the expert Kulbushan or a powerful Danny wasted on an inconsequential role.

Escaping out of various traps laid by the British till it is finally over to self-immolation a fact again contested by history.

Indian cinema refuses to come out of the trap of melodrama and overt exaggeration when creating a biography for the screen actually doing some damage to the equity of the historical figure

If I sat through the long and at times arduous movie it was simply because of my appreciation for the fortitude of this actress who does monopolise the screen and for admiration of the powerful queen who was the first symbol of our country’s resistance to invaders.

**1/2