Mumbai: A descendant of the original ‘Rani of Jhansi’ has dragged to the court Kangana Ranaut and the makers of her film. It is the contention of the petitioner that the legendary freedom fighter has been depicted as a fashion queen. The descendant, who claims to be the fifth generation offspring of the queen, has further accused the makers of ‘Manikarnika’ of fabricating historical records and hurting the sentiments of Hindu women. In this respect, the contentions is that original records clearly show, the queen of Jhansi was married to King Gangadhan Nevalkar in 1842 at the age of seven.
But, in the film, she is shown to be 14 years of age at the time of her marriage. ‘‘This can hurt the sentiments of Hindu women, who gather at the place of her birth and death to pay tributes to her,” the plea points out. The petitioner – Vivek Tambe — has filed the petition in the Bombay High Court and sought a stay on the release of the film, which is slated to hit the theatres on January 25. He has further claimed that the film, if released, will violate his fundamental rights. The petition was mentioned before a division bench of Justices Amjad Sayed and Riyaz Chagla and an urgent hearing was sought.
The matter will be heard this week. In his petition, Tambe has said, “Film makers are trying to create a fraudulent depiction of the queen, which is contrary to historical records. They have fabricated the historical records which is evident from the trailer and other promotional clips uploaded on social media platforms.” They are going to collect money from the public at large by fabricating government records and by violating our fundamental rights, the petition further asserts. According to Tambe, the Rani of Jhansi was originally born in 1835 in Uttar Pradesh. But in the film it is shown that she was born in 1828. Thus there is scant respect for historical records.
