Manikarnika Trailer Talk: Kangana Ranaut Takes Charge In High-Pitched Rani Lakshmibai Biopic

What can we expect from Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, the biopic of the warrior queen who played an important role in the rebellion against the East India Company in 1857? A lot of Kangana Ranaut (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

In the trailer she is shown slashing a sword through the enemy's head, playing with flowers, killing a royal Bengal tiger, and with her blood-spattered face letting out the war cry Har Har Mahadev. Among other things, Ranaut is also the director of the film, along with Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi.

The trailer shows the journey of Ranaut's Lakshmibai – from being marked as a special child to her taking charge of an army of women against the British "who have made Jhansi a crematorium." An all-women chorus chant plays throughout. But the signs of high-pitched jingoism inherent in the war epic genre is worrying; from the writers of Baahubali and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (V. Viyeyandra Prasad), declares the trailer.

The cast includes Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Danny Denzongappa, Jishu Sengupta, Atul Kulkarni and Ankita Lokhande among others. Music is by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and lyrics by Prasoon Joshi.

Produced by Zee Studios and Kamal Jain, the film will release on January 25.

Watch the trailer here: