By Ujwal Jalali
New Delhi, Nov 7 (UNI) 'The Warrior queen of Jhansi',
a film on the life of warrior queen Rani Laxmibai who fiercely led her army against the East India Company in the widely known revolt of 1857, will hit screens in India on November 29.
Featuring Devika Bhise in the lead role, 'The Warrior queen of Jhansi' will be the first ever action film in Hollywood with lead role by an Indian female.
The film, described as a tale of women's empowerment, depicts the story of warrior queen Rani Laxmibai who fiercely led her army against the East India Company in the widely known revolt of 1857.
This real-life Wonder Woman’s insurrection shifted the balance of power in the region and set in motion the demise of notorious British East India Company and the beginning of British Raj under Queen Victoria.
The film will be released in English and Marathi languages simultaneously.
The main lead of this movie, Devika Bhise, while speaking to UNI, said that this film is “unique in every way”.
“We are telling the story of this iconic Indian warrior queen to global audience, particularly Western English audience as people in the west are not aware of her role. It is something they need to know about her, especially in the present time.”
Ms Bhise was recently seen in the Hollywood film --' The Man Who Knew Infinity', a film based on the life story of genius mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.
Bhise played the character of Janaki, the wife of Ramanujan, portrayed by Dev Patel.
Speaking about her role in this new Hollywood flick, Bhise said that it was very tough to prepare for the role.
“I spent many years on horse riding and learned how to jump as well. I had to learn a number of different styles of martial arts”, she said, adding that apart from the physical challenges she had to learn the art of delivering dialogues in Hindi and Marathi, styled to the accent of 1858. Even the English accent spoken at that time was way different from the current Indian English accent.
Bhise said she also went to India to study the ancient martial art of ‘Kalaripayattu’ with one of the leading Kalaripayattu masters, Gopakumar Gurukkal, who has trained actors such as Jackie Chan.
She herself has performed most of the stunts in the film. She said she had played an ideal role in the film and would certainly play the characters having same persona.
Devika said that more and more opportunities are being created for Indian actors in Hollywood these days.
Responding to a question, she said that Irfan Khan Starrer 'Lunchbox' was her favourite Bollywood movie and she would like to work with its director Ritesh Batra.
The script of the film was written with a western perspective so that the global audiences could understand the story.
The film will also feature Ajinkya Deo, Nagesh Bhonsle, Arif Zakaria, Deepal Doshi, Auroshikha Dey, Mangal Sanap, Naina Sareen and Pallavi Patil in the main roles.
UNI JAL AR 1130