Jhansi Ki Rani (1953 film)

Plot

Rajguru (Sohrab Modi) decides that Jhansi should get its proper recognition in history. He comes across a young girl Manu (the young Rani Lakshmibai) played by Baby Shikha. Her father has been hit by a carriage driven by an English driver. She gathers a few children to confront the driver. This and her confrontation with an elephant impresses the Rajguru who takes her in hand, shaping her into becoming a determined leader. He arranges for her, at the age of nine, to marry the much-older ruler of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao (Mubarak), who is about fifty years, and become Queen.

Manu grows up under the expert tutelage of the Rajguru, learning physical combat and political administration. The older Manu now called Lakshmibai gives birth to a boy who dies. She adopts another boy Damodar Rao who the English refuse to accept as the rightful heir. This further sets her against the British. During the uprising of 1857 (1857 Mutiny) she fights against them succumbing to her injuries in the end.

Cast

Production

The film was released in India in 1952 (1953) as Jhansi Ki Rani and released in USA as The Tiger and the Flame in 1956. Modi had Hollywood technicians brought in to help in the technical aspect of the film. He managed to create the right era using historical details correctly. The main cinematographer was the Hollywood Oscar winner for Gone with the Wind (1939), Ernest Haller who was assisted by M. Malhotra and Y. D. Sarpotdar. The editor was Russell Lloyd from England. The film deviated from the fictionalised accounts and stuck to the extracts from the novel Jhansi Ki Rani (1946) by Vrindavan Lal Verma

Sohrab Modi And Historicals

Modi concentrated on Historicals, prominent of which were Pukar (1939), Jhansi Ki Rani and Mirza Ghalib 1954), which are "considered milestones of the genre".

Box-office

The press praised the film lauding Modi's use of colour and direction. However, in spite of having spent lavishly on technicians, sets, war scenes and making it in colour, the film was a big box-office disaster causing Modi great financial losses. Modi was blamed for casting his wife Mehtab, in the title role of Lakshmibai, who looked too old at 35 years to portray the young queen half her age.

Crew

Cast and crew

Soundtrack

While the English version (1956, dubbed) had no songs, the Hindi version had music by Vasant Desai and lyrics by Pandit Radheshyam. The playback singers were Mohammed Rafi, Sulochana Kadam, Suman Purohit, Parshuram, P. Ramakant. Two songs in Mohammed Rafi's voice remain notable: "Amar Hai Jhansi Ki Rani" and "Rajguru Ne Jhansi Chhodi".

Trivia

Impressed by Hema Malini's performance in Razia Sultan (1983), Modi wanted to remake Jhansi Ki Rani with her in the lead.