'Manikarnika' has its moments of brilliance but less flab would have helped

The film opens with Amitabh Bachchan’s baritone giving a prelude to the nearly three-hour-long hagiography on Rani Lakshmibai, born Manikarnika, the queen of Jhansi who challenged the British when many of her male peers did not. Accompanying the booming voice is spectacular cinematography, with frames shifting from forests to deserts and then to imposing fortresses. If only the rest of the film were as spectacular.
 
As is with movies that dabble in anything remotely related to history today, Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi begins with a series of disclaimers on historical accuracy, creative liberty, the use of animals and so on. We are told upfront that the film — a linear, simplistic narration of what led to the rise of Lakshmibai — is not an exact reproduction of historical facts.

 
The hero of the film, undoubtedly, is Kangana Ranaut who plays the titular role. She has proved in the past that she is accomplished enough to carry a film on her shoulders, and she shows this again with Manikarnika. She owns the part of the warrior queen with her mannerisms, body language and dialogue delivery. But so cringe-worthy is the dialogue in places that even she fails to salvage it and you realise that hamming her way through such scenes might have been her best shot at adapting to the script and the screenplay.
 

Sure, there are moments when you want to clap and cheer, but these are mostly action-heavy scenes devoid of dialogue. Endless songs, some accompanied by dance routines, also hinder the film’s pace.

 
The rest of the cast — both veterans such as Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Danny Denzongpa and Suresh Oberoi and the younger lot of Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Atul Kulkarni and Ankita Lokhande — does a good job, but the camera largely remains trained on Ranaut.
 
Some of Manikarnika’s best moments are when Ranaut is seen in action, sword in hand. Ranaut and the team that has directed the action scenes prove that if choreographed well, such sequences can be both graceful and engaging — and that you don’t necessarily need a man to pull them off. Katrina Kaif’s solo action sequence in Tiger Zinda Hai gave a glimpse of this. Manikarnika gives further proof.

 
Action is also what the “British” actors in Hindi films need to stick to, since dialogue delivery is not their forte. Time and again, Indian films seem to get a raw deal when it comes to casting actors playing the English from the days of the Raj. Barring Richard Keep, who   plays General Hugh Rose, every other such actor appears out of place, hamming his way through the movie.
 
As it plays on the nationalistic fervour and cashes in on the Republic Day weekend, Manikarnika is a well-timed, watchable film. Is it a must-watch? No. But then, considering that the two girls seated next to me in the theatre had to Google who Rani Lakshmibai was and were shocked to find that she dies, perhaps it was a film that needed to have been made and ought to be watched.