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Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi and its topicality

Article  in  South Asian Popular Culture · September 2020

DOI: 10.1080/14746689.2020.1815452

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Prashant Maurya Nagendra Kumar

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee Indian Institute of Technology Roorklee
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https://doi.org/10.1080/14746689.2020.1815452

Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi and its topicality

a a
Prashant Maurya and Nagendra Kumar
a
Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee,
Uttarakhand, 247667, India

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi is a recently released Indian Manikarnika: Queen of Jhansi;
historical biopic of Rani Lakshmi Bai. Through historical re- Rani Lakshmi Bai; 1857;
imagining, the film renders several potential social and political historical film; biopic
issues, which are topical and timely in contemporary India. The
present article attempts to examine the topicality of the film. First,
it discusses how it rekindles the female heroic tradition of India,
which has been overshadowed due to the patriarchal mindset and
historiography. Secondly, it explores how, through cinematic liber­
ties, issues like gauraksha, Hindutva, and patriotism have been
propagated. Thirdly, it argues how by foregrounding Dalits and
Muslims, the film attempts to neutralise extremist Hindu prejudices,
dominant in the hyper-nationalist climate of India. The article con­
cludes that by recreating a crucial historical epoch and a legend, the
film attempts to reinstate a secular heritage of India’s heroic tradi­
tion to rekindle nationalistic and patriotic sensibility among the
contemporary masses.

Introduction
Bollywood movies have a broad audience base, as they are popular worldwide. In India,
while few people go to theatres and multiplexes, a considerable number of Indians still
watch films aired on television. In the aftermath of the internet revolution in India, the
culture of watching movies on mobile phones has also increased substantially. According
to a report by cable.co.uk, published in The Economic Times, ‘India has the cheapest
mobile data in the world with over 430 million smartphone users’.
Films being visual mediums of entertainment create a long-lasting impression in the
minds of their audience. Banaji suggests, ‘films play a very important role in conditioning
the thoughts and beliefs of people because they are able to interact cognitively with
audiences and allow them to absorb, interpret, critique, and reject the narrative and
theme portrayed to them’ (qtd. in Gupta and Gupta 275). Primarily, every film has two
purposes. First, to entertain its audience and second to reflect upon some ‘socio-cultural
practices, discourses or sensibilities’ (Chauhan 327). Many films also attempt to render
some message that can frame/change the sensibilities of their audience. In this way, a film
does not only act as a source of entertainment but also as ‘a power that has social impact’
(McCann 6). Kumar emphasises that ‘cinema has assumed a crucial role by virtue of its

CONTACT Prashant Maurya prashantlinguistics@gmail.com

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