Hasta La Motion!

Khoob Laadi mardani woh toh Jhansi wali Rani thi.

160 years ago Rani Laxmi Bai fought for her motherland Jhansi against East India Company. Her courageous fight and sacrifices as a queen, as a hero have been carved forever in the pages of history as well as in the heart of every Indian. Much anticipated Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, an Indian biography-historical movie based on Jhansi ki Rani Laxmi Bai has released its official trailer today and has announced that it will hit the theatre on 25 January 2019 just before the Republic Day.

The three minute 20 seconds trailer takes one into the world of Rani Laxmibai. The trailer reveals the glimpse of Manikarnika’s warrior skills and her efficient sword-play, which will transport one back in the history. Apart from that, the trailer has also revealed her early life, showcasing how her marriage brought her to Jhansi and finally what happened later.  The trailer resoundingly establishes how bravely Rani Laxmi Bai fought the war against the British army.

Kangna Ranaut will be seen in the lead role as Jhansi Rani Laxmi Bai and has also directed the film after  Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi left the movie halfway. Apart from her, there is Atul Kulkarni as Tatya Tope, Jisshu Sengupta as Gangadhar Rao, Richard Keep as General Hugh Rose, Suresh Oberoi as Bajirao and others.

The movie is VFX-heavy and in an exclusive conversation with AnimationXpress, producer Kamal Jain expressed, “It is a period drama and war action film, therefore, it requires a huge visual spectrum. No doubt, it is a super VFX-heavy film and has more than 3000VFX shots out of which 50 per cent are hardcore CG shots.”

On the official launch of the trailer director and actor, Ranaut shared that directing the movie was an emotional journey for her, as an Indian woman she wanted to tribute it to the warrior, Rani Laxmi Bai. “Nothing can match the larger-than-life image of Rani Laxmibai. Nothing can ever be good enough. If we could match up to that level it would be great. Therefore, the release date of the movie had to be either before Independence day or before Republic day. And finally, we fixed it before Republic Day,” Ranaut exclaimed.

Ranaut shared that her journey as a director was amazing and she enjoyed working behind the camera unlike other actors and expressed, “ I love directing more than anything else. As far as the creative aspect is concerned, I want to give credit to the writers. The script never changed. I didn’t have to take anyone’s vision forward. I could use my own vision. I didn’t see any obstacle but it is definitely difficult to step in someone else’s shoes. So, my future directing project would be easier than this.”

Jain further shared with AnimationXpress, “Prime Focus has done a wonderful job in blending and finalising the shots, and the audience could get the glimpse of it from the trailer itself. The VFX work is going on full swing and we are putting our fingers crossed for it to be finished by the end of six months.”

The event of the trailer launch ended with Shankar Mahadevan singing a song from the movie album which has been composed by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and its lyrics have been penned by Prasoon Joshi.

The visual perfect trailer will pull the audience back into the history and we hope for the movie to be a blockbuster!

The post VFX heavy film, ‘Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi’ to hit the screens on 25 January 2019 appeared first on AnimationXpress.