Jhansi Ki Rani (1953 film)

Jhansi Ki Rani
Directed by	Sohrab Modi
Produced by	Sohrab Modi
Written by	Pandit S. R. Dubey Pandit Girish
Starring	Sohrab Modi Mehtab Sapru Mubarak
Music by	Vasant Desai Pandit Radheshyam (lyrics)
Cinematography	Ernest Haller assisted by M. Malhotra and Y. D. Sarpotdar
Edited by	Russell Lloyd
Production company	Minerva Movietone
Release date	1953
Running time	148 minutes
Country	India
Language	Hindi

Jhansi Ki Rani is a 1953 Hindi historical drama film produced and directed by Sohrab Modi for his Minerva Movietone production banner. It is credited as the first Technicolor film made in India and starred Modi's wife, Mehtab in the title role, with Modi in the important role of her mentor Rajguru (royal adviser). The film was dubbed in English as The Tiger and the Flame which released in 1956 with the same star cast. The cast besides Mehtab and Sohrab Modi included Mubarak, Ulhas, Sapru, Ram Singh, Baby Shikha, Marconi, and Shakila.

Set in the 19th century against the backdrop of the Mutiny of 1857, the film is about the bravery of queen Lakshmibai, Rani of Jhansi, who took up arms and led her army against the British. She was one of the first Indians to do so.

Rajguru (Sohrab Modi) decides that Jhansi should get its proper recognition in history. He comes across a young girl Manu (the young Rani Lakshmibai) played by Baby Shikha. Her father has been hit by a carriage driven by an English driver. She gathers a few children to confront the driver. This and her confrontation with an elephant impresses the Rajguru who takes her in hand, shaping her into becoming a determined leader. He arranges for her, at the age of nine, to marry the much-older ruler of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao (Mubarak), who is about fifty years, and become Queen.

Manu grows up under the expert tutelage of the Rajguru, learning physical combat and political administration. The older Manu now called Lakshmibai gives birth to a boy who dies. She adopts another boy Damodar Rao who the English refuse to accept as the rightful heir. This further sets her against the British. During the uprising of 1857 (1857 Mutiny) she fights against them succumbing to her injuries in the end.

The film was released in India in 1952 (1953) as Jhansi Ki Rani and released in USA as The Tiger and the Flame in 1956. Modi had Hollywood technicians brought in to help in the technical aspect of the film. He managed to create the right era using historical details correctly. The main cinematographer was the Hollywood Oscar winner for Gone with the Wind (1939), Ernest Haller who was assisted by M. Malhotra and Y. D. Sarpotdar. The editor was Russell Lloyd from England. The film deviated from the fictionalised accounts and stuck to the extracts from the novel Jhansi Ki Rani (1946) by Vrindavan Lal Verma