Five girls from Maharashtra, who are champions of the Indian weapon-based martial art form, will be seen in Kangana Ranaut’s Manikarnika
Mayuri Phadnis (BOMBAY TIMES; January 7, 2019)

Purvi Ganjave, Samruddhi Jadhav, Sneha Patil, Sameeksha Sukate and Shreya Mane, five Pune girls, are all set to engage in a battle with the British Army. Well, on the silver screen that is.

The girls are champions of the martial art Mardani Khel and their skill has landed them roles in Kangana Ranaut’s upcoming Manikarnika — The Queen of Jhansi. Purvi, Samruddhi, Sneha, Sameeksha and Shreya form an important part of the Durga Dal, a women’s brigade in Rani Lakshmibai’s army, in the film. According to their coach Kundlik Kachale, these girls are the finest practitioners of the martial art and have won big at national-level competitions as well. “It’s their finesse with the weapons and moves that landed them the roles. I train around 150 girls in Mardani Khel and these girls are the best among them,” he says.

Trained in sword swinging, dandpatta (steel whip) and lathi-kathi (stick fight), the five girls were selected from auditions held at Mehboob Studios last year. Their expertise in sword fighting helped them make the cut. This was their first exposure to a film set and they shot at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad for their scenes.

It goes without saying that the girls are eagerly awaiting the release of the film and plan to watch its first show on the day it releases. After all, who wants to miss the opportunity of watching themselves on the big screen with Kangana Ranaut?

Speaking about working with the actress, Samruddhi Jadhav shares, “Kangana’s movements are extremely attractive as she makes a lot of effort. Moreover, it was interesting to see how the production team managed the shoot, considering it was a big budget film. This was a learning experience for all of us.”

The girls have been practicing Mardani Khel since their school days. Today, the college-goers practice for more than two hours every day with weapons like spears, swords and dandpatta during their sessions. However, the practice before the shoot was a little different.

“We used to practice with wooden swords, which used to break quite often. However, it was impressive that there was a dedicated unit which constantly kept making new swords to avoid hampering our practice,” says Samruddhi adding that for the final shoot, the team used aluminium swords.

The girls believe that the environment at the shoot was extremely charged up and it was challenging to match the speed and agility of the international artistes who were playing British officers in the period drama. “We had to keep the fight realistic, and so, work on everything, right from our body language to expressions, as we performed our scenes with a team of trained artistes,” shares Sameeksha Sukate.

But all said and done, the girls are in awe of the actors’ efforts to play their roles with conviction. “Some scenes might look effortless on the big screen but the amount of hard work that goes into it is commendable. Throughout the shoot, not only did we acquire new skills, but we also learnt the importance of discipline and time management,” says Purvi Ganjave.

The girls feel that after people watch the fight sequences, there will be more takers for Mardani Khel. Shreya Mane says, “In the South, martial art forms like Kalaripayattu or Silambam have more takers compared to Mardaani Khel in our state because of the exposure that they have received. All the forms have similar base movements. Hopefully, after watching Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, Mardani Khel will find a lot more takers. It’s something that everyone should at least know about. It will be great if people also start learning it.”

Durga Dal fact files

Many women from Jhansi were a part of the Durga Dal that fought the British army along with Rani Lakshmibai. Some of them even sacrificed their lives. Jhalkari Bai (Ankita Lokhande in the film), who was trained in swordplay and archery, was also a part of this brigade. She was said to have a striking similarity with Rani Lakshmibai, which helped the army of Jhansi plan deception.