SPOILERS BELOW
Ok, so here are my thoughts about the film. Going to be a bit long since I have a lot to speak.(as usual 😆)
Starting with the good, the film does have it's heart at the right place. I was wrong in thinking that the film was Kangana's ego project but after watching Manikarnika, it clearly is not. The makers have kept the spirit of Rani Lakshmibai alive throughout the film and want to genuinely give a tribute to her. Kangana also is good to great in many places but overall, it's a very inconsistent performance from her side. I wish she had worked on her dialogue delivery a bit more. I loved how she changed her voice during the 'hum ladenge' sequence but she could have done a lot more with her voice in the film like Ranveer did with Bajirao Mastani. She is also fantastic at the action sequences if I take out the terrible VFX coming along with the sequences. The first war with Sir Hugh Rose with Rani in the orange saree is fantastically done, especially when it comes to the night sequences. There's a moment where Kangana turns around with a shield and kills a soldier which I thought was designed very well but that too gets spoiled soon enough as you get to see Kangu's body double's face for a split second!
I loved the picturization of Bharat Rehna Chahiye and Vijay Bhava, the latter specially because it was goosebump inducing- right from the haldi kumkum celebration to the training and finally ready for the battle. I felt Vijay Bhava was one of the highest moments of the film and so it was a let down that they couldn't hold the momentum till the end of the film. Some of the emotional scenes were also very soul stirring. Like there's a scene where Rani Lakshmibai says that she would love to give her life for the country anyday but she would equally love to stay alive to see an Independent India. That moment really made my eyes moist. I think the second half of the film is much better the first half. It is after her husband's death that the film picks up and I think some of Kangana's best moments in the film is that transiotional period. From losing her baby to fighting with husband to losing her husband to the widow rituals and finally that all dressed up queen like walk with Daodar in her arms and sitting on the throne. Everyone was awestruck during the pre interval scene in the theatre. Kangana was on fire throughout that particular scene. Also, unlike what krish claims, I think all secondary characters had the much required screen space in the film. Be it Kashi or Jhalkari Bai or Tantiya, they all come at moments when they are required to in order to complete Rani Lakshmibai's war against the British. So these and some other scenes here and there speaking about women empowerment are what I genuienly liked about the film and thought was beautifully done.
BUT...
Here comes the bad, which is literally everything else! The film might have it's heart at the right place, it might have a fantastic performance by actors but we are in 2018 and there are absolutely no excuses for a badly crafted film. The thing that stops Manikarnika from a great biopic to a so-so biopic is that- the craft and the technical aspect of the film. The makers have clearly compromised on that part of the film which really needed a lot of attention. Absolutely zilch effort on the screenplay of the film. It's all over the place and a complete hodge podge. Same with the editing of the film which I think is one of the biggest flaws of the film. The film starts with a narration by Big B and ends with another but throughout the film, text replaces the narration. I wish there was more context while jumping years and places. Like I wanted to know a bit more about the Sepoy Mutiny and other things before they cut into that scene with just a date and place stamp.
The film is also not uniform if seen completely. It's completely disjointed with regards to the flow of the story. It starts haphazardly and ends on a very bad note. Also, unnecessary addition of songs that do nothing to take the story forward except Rajaji. And don't get me started about the the Chikni Chameli like dance sequence of Jhalkari Bai. A tribal dance and Rani Lakshibai joining the revelry could have been shown in a much better way. Aaprt from Danny and Jishu, the ensemble cast is also very weak. The main atagonists, be it Indians or the British are not convincing at all. Speaking about the British, they could have gone a little easy on the accents and the dubs. It was poorly dubbed and even the dialogues that were given to the British were really bad. They could have used something much better and energetic than a remix version of Mahishasurmardini strotra for Rani's fight sequences. The continuous chants with the war sounds were jarring to the ears.
One of my biggest problems apart from the VFX was the atmosphere created in the film. It just did not look authentic. Be it the costumes or the dialogues or the cinematography, it lacked the period feel. It looked more like a dress up performance than an authentic period drama. Like say an SLB film. His stories suck but the world that he creates literally seeps you inside the era with fantastic use of texture, visuals and sound design. Everything that was missing in Manikarnika. And finally coming to the biggest weakness of the film- THE VFX! I'm sorry but when you plan to make such a big budget period film with release in IMAX screens, there can be absolutely no excuse for a shoddy work with respect to VFX. I saw the film on one of the country's biggest IMAX screens and I kid you not, the VFX was CRINGEWORTHY! I couldn't believe that they actually green signalled such work. You can literally pick up and differentiate shots that are shot in green screen and those in real. The crowd duplication is terrible. Same goes with the wiring. W*F was that VFX in Rani's escape sequence with Badal? There's a scene in the Rajaji song sequence where the king tries hunting a deer and they cut to a low resolution, VHS quality visual of a deer feeding it's kid. Like whaaat? The visual completely pixelated and tore on the big IMAX screen. Same with the last battle. So poorly visualized and implemented with respect to VFX. The slashes, the gun shots, the blood splashes, that insanely color corrected sudden story sky during Har Har Mahadev...so bad!! Like such shoddy B grade work for a biopic on such an important personality.
And it is these things above that makes Manikarnika an average fare despite the film having it's heart at the right place. The film clearly needed much stronger visualization skills. The direction,be it Kangana' or Krish's lacked that. There was absolutely no need to Bollywoodize the climax of the film. That shot with Rani's death glare at Hugh Rose would have been such an appropriate visual to end the film with. There was absolutely no need to make her spread her hands like Jesus and self immolate herself with the fire turning into OM. Why unnecessarily ghusedo such useless tricks? I feel what the biopic really needed was a lot more time with respect to direction, editing and VFX. They should have been more pateient, put resources to better use and made a much better film than this. Not for them or the industry. But for Rani Lakshmibai. Because I don't think we will ever get to see another boppic on Manikarnika on the big screen in the near future so Rani Lakshmibai definitely deserved a much better biopic than this.
2/5
Also, this film made me appreciate SLB's madness for perfection and passion a lot more than I did before. His stories still suck but NO ONE can beat him in creating the perfect look and atmosphere for a period film like he does. Only if the makers were inspired by that passion than the frames and Padmaaavat like ending.
Geet - Hui Sabse Parayee
Celebrity Fan Clubs
Anupamaa
54