Jhansi Ki Rani

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. —Cinephile