Jhansi Ki Rani (2009 TV series)

Ek Veer Stree Ki Kahaani... Jhansi Ki Rani (transl. Story of a brave woman...Queen of Jhansi) is an Indian historical drama based on the life of Lakshmi Bai, the Rani of Jhansi.[2] The series was directed by Jitendra Srivastava and written by Rajesh Saksham, Ila Dutta Bedi, Malavika Asthana, Mairaj Zaidi and Virendra Singh Patyal. It premiered on 18 August 2009 on Zee TV with Ulka Gupta playing young Queen Lakshmi Bai.[3] On 8 June 2010, the story moved on several years and Kratika Sengar portrayed the Queen from there on.[4] The last show episode aired on 19 June 2011.[5]

Ek Veer Stree Ki Kahaani... Jhansi ki Rani
Also known asJhansi ki Rani
GenreHistorical fiction[1]
Drama
Created byAbhimanyu Singh
Written by
Directed byJitendra Srivastava
Dharmesh Shah
Creative directorSujata Rao(shaalu)
StarringKratika Sengar
Ulka Gupta
Sameer Dharmadhikari
Amit Pachori
Hemant Choudhary
Shailesh Dattar
Edward Sonnenblick
Vikas Verma
Alexx O'Nell
Country of originIndia
Original languageHindi
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes480
Production
ProducerAbhimanyu Singh
CinematographyDeepak Pandey
Camera setupMulti-camera
Running time24 minutes
Production companyContiloe Entertainment
Release
Original networkZee TV
Picture format
Original release18 August 2009 (2009-08-18) –
19 June 2011 (2011-06-19)
Chronology
Related showsJhansi Ki Rani (2019)
External links
Website

Plot

Jhansi Ki Rani begins with Manikarnika (Manu) at age 14. She lives with her father, Moropant Tambe, a pandit in the Bithoor court of Peshwa Baji Rao II and Nana Saheb. Manu is trained in the arts of war by Tatya Tope. She despises the British rule of India, and takes the form of Kranti Guru to combat it. Manu is a thorn in the side of Manson, a British official. She marries king of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao Newalkar. The court of Jhansi is headed by Raghunath Singh and Narsingh Rao. Her name changes to Lakshmi Bai, and her life changes drastically. At Jhansi a servant, Moti Bai, collaborates with British officer Captain Fraser but changes sides after meeting Rani. Another officer, Marshal, kills Prachi (Bajirao's little daughter) and is killed by Kranti Guru in revenge. When the maharaja discovers that Kranti Guru is Rani, their relationship deteriorates. He agrees with a British officer that Kranti Guru will not be accused of Marshal's death if he hands over Rani's friend, Samar Singh. When Rani saves Samar, the maharaja casts her away.

When Rani sees the British mistreating villagers outside Jhansi, she persuades them to fight. She finds Samar Singh (who helps her) and Karma (who wants to kill the maharaja). Captain Martin promises Karma the leadership of the villages if he works for them, but he then betrays him. Rani saves Karma, who becomes an ally. Martin challenges Rani (disguised as a man, Raja) to fight against a madman; Raja wins the fight, but is then revealed as Rani. The maharaja takes her back as the maharani; Martin retires, and is replaced by Captains Malcom and Ross.

After several failed attempts to kill the maharaja, Captain Nelson kills Ross; Samar Singh is framed for the murder and hanged. Rani visits Baji Rao, who is severely ill in Bithoor; he dies while Manson tries to conquer Bithoor Fort. Rani fights victoriously, and cuts off Manson's leg. She gives birth to Damodar Rao, and adopts Anand Rao. Nelson kills Damodar, Ali Bahadur kills the maharaja and Captain Hamilton is sent to Jhansi to subdue it. Rani renames Anand Damodar and wages war against the East India Company against the backdrop of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Hamilton pits Jhansi and the city of Orchha against each other; Orchha's queen, Ladai Sarkar, is sympathetic to the British and holds a grudge against Jhansi. Ladai Sarkar captures Tatya Tope, Raghunath Singh and Gauss Khan but Rani Lakshmi Bai frees them all and wins the battle. The victorious Rani returns to a conquered Jhansi, which she reclaims after threatening the life of the 1st Earl of Dalhouise. Nelson frames her for the death of the king of Mot, and when Ladai Sarkar (the king's sister-in-law) captures Rani he betrays Sarkar. The queens become allies in prison, and after Rani escapes she kills Nelson. Queen Victoria sends General Hugh Henry Rose, who helps Hamilton capture Prince Damodar, as a replacement. After Rani saves her son's life she kills Hamilton; Hugh Rose's army attacks Jhansi Fort, where many of her loyal followers and allies including Guass Khan, Karma, Moropant Tambe, Jhalkaribai, Ladai Sarkar and Kashi die. Bithoor is conquered while Nana Saheb flees to Nepal. Before the Final Battle Tatya Tope brings his army for Rani Laxmibai's aid. Rani Laxmibai leaves her fort and goes to Gwalior along with her army . In Gwalior she fights her final battle where she is betrayed by the Prime Minister of Gwallior. In the final battle, Raghunath Singh in an attempt to divert the Britishers is shot dead. During the course of battle, Rani Laxmibai gets severely injured as British general stabs sword in her stomach multiple times. Later she also gets shot in the stomach. She also gets deeply wounded on her head. She hands over Damodar Rao to Tatya Tope and tells him to safeguard the prince before taking on the Britishers for one final time. Moments before her death she tells a villager to burn her body so that the British couldn't touch it.


Cast

Indians

Englishmen
  • Alexx O'Nell as Major Robert W. Ellis
  • Ben Kaplan as John Lang
  • Gary Richardson as The Earl of Dalhousie
  • Thomas Munro as Hugh Henry Rose
  • David Steele as Captain Mac
  • Edward Sonnenblick as Captain James Manson/Captain John W. Nelson
  • Ramona Sav as Rose Nelson
  • David Steele as Gall
  • Maurice Caves as British Officer
  • Vikas Verma as Marshall/Captain Robert Hamilton
  • Ganpat Roa as Captain Malcolm
  • Sam Brown as Captain Raus
  • Simon Fraser as Captain Fraser
  • Glen David Short as Commissioner Wilson
  • Robin Pratt as Sir Moreland (Commissioner of Kanpur)
  • Suzanne Bernert as Mistress Moreland
  • Muhammad Ayhan Murtaza as General Aron J.smith

Production

Development

We wanted to showcase the spirit of Rani Lakshmi Bai to celebrate 150 years of the war of independence as well to commemorate her death. It was her 150th death anniversary last year. So we thought of enlivening consciousness about her.

— Nitin Vaidya, Business Head of Zee TV[3]

The show required months of research to get the right look and ambience. We had to do a lot of research to recreate an era 1834 onwards. We had to recreate locations, costumes, characteristics, locations, action, etc., and all this required over two and a half months of pre-production. This is definitely the biggest show we have ever produced.

— Abhimanyu Singh, Head of Contiloe Entertainment[3]

Effort has been geared towards being true to the facts. For the project, I extensively referred to historical writings by both Indian and western historians. Creative liberties have been taken only in the portrayal of the characters' mannerisms and presentation of particular happenings, without losing touch with the facts and well established truths associated with Rani Laxmi Bai and her times.

— Mairaj Zaidi, scriptwriter of the series[7]

In 2007, during the 150th year of Indian Rebellion of 1857, Zee TV started conceptualizing the life of Rani Lakshmi Bai into a series while they roped Mairaj Zaidi as one of the writers who was already exploring on her since ten years.[8][9]

On 26 January 2011, Zee TV aired a special episode titled Salute at 8 where Rani Lakshmi Bai battles saves her son Anand Rao and her father Moropant Tambe from the Britishers while actors from other series of the channel then were shown paying tribute to Jhansi Rani by singing the National anthem.[10]

Filming

The series is filmed at various historical locations and sets created in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat which includes Karjat, Mumbai in Maharashtra; Maheshwar, Indore in Madhya Pradesh; Aamgaon, Silvasa in Gujarat; Jaipur, Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan and few others.[2][3][5][11]

Cancellation and future

The series ended in June 2011.[5] In 2019, the production house Contiole Entertainment rebooted the series as Khoob Ladi Mardaani…Jhansi Ki Rani for Colors TV.[12][13]

Adaptations

It was dubbed in various Indian languages including Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam which aired on Zee Marathi, Zee Tamil, Zee Telugu, Zee Kannada and Zee Keralam.[14][15][16]

Reception

Historical accuracy

The drama was praised for the historical accuracy of the dresses and ornaments worn by the characters. However, doubts were raised on the authenticity of "Ek Veer Stree Ki Kahani... Jhansi Ki Rani" by some historians. Jhansi-based historian Professor Jawaharlal Kanchan protested that the drama is playing with history and providing incorrect information to young minds.[17] The bone of contention for Prof Kanchan is an episode which shows Rani Laxmi Bai wounded by enemy soldiers while on a visit to a hilltop temple in Jhansi. "And despite being hurt she visits the temple. But there is no historical evidence of such an incident and neither is there any such hilltop temple in Jhansi," he points out. Dr A. K. Pandey, director, State Museum, Jhansi states, "makers of the serial should understand that they cannot distort historical facts just for the sake of TRPs."[17]

Drawing reference to Vrindhavan Lal Verma's novel Jhansi Ki Rani, Dainik Bhaskar stated that the relationship between King Gangadhar Rao and Mothi Bai in the series was not portrayed correctly.[18]

Reactions from orthodox viewers

Certain reactions from orthodox Indian viewers and historians were negative. The director of the State Museum (Dr A. K. Pandey) at Jhansi states, "Rani Lakshmi Bai is like a goddess to us and seeing her story presented in a distorted manner is painful. Showing intimate bedroom scenes of Jhansi Ki Rani is also unacceptable." Dharmesh Shah, the director of the drama defends it by pointing out, "The British ruled that any kingdom without an heir would be annexed by the East India Company. So Rani Laxmi Bai wanted an heir, because of which we were required to show those intimate scenes. There is no need of creating a hullabaloo."[17]

Ratings

Soon after launch, it became one of the most watched Hindi GEC. In week 34 of 2009, the series debuted with a rating of 4 TVR.[19][20] In weeks sixteen to eighteen of 2010, it maintained its position in one of the top Hindi GEC programs with 4.2 TVR.[21][22] In week ending 26 June 2010 and the previous week, it garnered 3.5 and 3.4 TVR.[23] As in October 2010, it was at eighth position in top ten Hindi GECs ranging between 2.7 and 3.2 TVR.[24]

Awards
2010 Zee Gold Awards[25]
  • Best Videography (Fiction) - Deepak Pandey
  • Best Art Direction - Sandesh Gondhalekar
  • Best Editing
  • Performer of the Year - Ulka Gupta
2010 FICCI Award

See also

References
  1. "Show theme". Hindustan Times.
  2. "Fighting glory". The Indian Express.
  3. "Zee eyeing top slot with Jhansi Ki Rani?". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021.
  4. "Meet the new Jhansi Ki Rani". The Indian Express.
  5. "Portraying Rani Jhansi was a dream come true: Kratika Sengar". Daily News and Analysis. Archived from the original on 3 January 2021.
  6. Siddiqui, A. U. (2004). Indian Freedom Movement in Princely States of Vindhya Pradesh. Northern Book Centre, New Delhi. pp. 44.
  7. "Zee TV sounds war cry with Jhansi Ki Rani". Afaqs.
  8. "LESSONS from HISTORY". The Indian Express.
  9. "Zee TV sounds war cry with Jhansi Ki Rani". AFAQS.
  10. "Zee TV's tribute to 'Jhansi Ki Rani'". Daily Bhaskar.
  11. "'Fear Files' to reveal haunted experience of Ulka, Sameer". The Times of India.
  12. "Contiloe Pictures to reboot their historical series Jhansi Ki Rani for Colors". Eastern Eye.
  13. "Anushka Sen: Khoob Ladee Mardani…Jhansi Ki Rani is very different from Manikarnika". The Indian Express.
  14. "Meet the voices behind the faces". The New Indian Express.
  15. "Karnataka: Protest against dubbed serial". The New Indian Express.
  16. "Vellinakshathram and Jhansi Rani; Malayalam TV to air two new dubbed serials". The Times of India.
  17. Sumit Jha (18 August 2010). "Jhansi Ki Rani in trouble". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  18. "Rani Lakshmi Bai's husband was convinced by a prostitute, gave the garden as a gift". Dainik Bhaskar.
  19. "India ratings: ZEE TV just 16 points behind No.1". Biz Asia.
  20. "GEC watch: Five Zee shows in Top 10; Jhansi Ki Rani debuts with TVR of 4". Afaqs.
  21. "Racing to the top". Daily News and Analysis.
  22. "'Jhansi Ki Rani' rules at prime time". Zee News.
  23. "Star Plus Continues to the Top; Grp Gap With Colors Remains Wide". Indian Television dot com.
  24. "Just Surf it". The Telegraph.
  25. "Zee TV Official Website: Zee TV Shows, Zee TV Serials Online, Videos". zeetv.com. 4 July 2011. Archived from the original on 30 November 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
  26. "Zee TV Official website: Zee TV Shows, Zee TV Serials Online, Videos". zeetv.com. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
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