Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; January 8, 2018)

Kangana Ranaut may be gung-ho about Manikarnika - The Queen Of Jhansi, her ambitious biopic on Rani Lakshmibai, but it seems an international project on the same subject might beat her to the finish line. Swords And Sceptres, an Indo-British film on the warrior queen directed by Swati Bhise, which kicked off its shoot in October last year, is eyeing a March release. On the other hand, Ranaut’s film is currently in its last leg of shooting and is slated to hit screens on April 27.

A unit hand from the Rupert Everett and Derek Jacobi-starrer reveals, “The shoot wrapped up in December and the film is currently in post-production in London. The film’s war sequences are mounted on a large scale and need a fair amount of visual effects work. The VFX team has been given a deadline of February end. If they meet the deadline, the movie will release before Kangana’s biopic.”

Swati’s period drama sees her daughter Devika Bhise essaying the feisty queen. An American actor of Indian origin, Devika was previously seen in The Man Who Knew Infinity (2016). Swati is unperturbed that Ranaut — who presumably has more star power to draw the audience in India — is headlining a film on the same subject. She says, “I’m aware that another biopic is being made on the Queen of Jhansi, which has a big Bollywood star featuring in it. But there’s enough room for more movies on her.”

The actor has been shooting in Jodhpur for his turn as Sir Hugh Rose in an upcoming British-Indian co-production
Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; November 1, 2017)

Acclaimed British actor Rupert Everett arrived in Jodhpur last week to secretly start shooting for a Brit-American production based on Rani Laxmibai, Swords And Sceptres, which is directed by Swati Bhise.

The 58-year-old actor, who plays Sir Hugh Rose in the film, has been shooting with Arif Zakaria (featuring as Gaus Khan, Rani Laxmibai’s chief advisor-strategist who dies in the Battle of Jhansi alongside the Queen) for the last six days.

Expected to release in 2018, the period war-drama features a mix of Indian and British actors, including Derek Jacobi (Gladiator, The King’s Speech) as Lord Palmerston and Nathaniel Parker (The Outcast) as Sir Robert Hamilton, who also arrived in Rajasthan last week. Milind Gunaji (Virasat, Godmother) will be seen as the Maharaja of Jhansi, Gangadhar Rao, and award-winning Marathi actor Ajinkya Deo plays Tatya Tope, while Devika Bhise (The Man Who Knew Infinity) will appear in the titular role and Hollywood actress Jodhi May as Queen Victoria.

“The film will be shot for eight weeks in Jodhpur and Jaipur and there are extensive schedules planned with different members of the cast in London and Morocco,” a source close to the development told Mirror, adding that the grand Moroccan desert will double up as India in the film’s upcoming schedule. It was picked because the desert backdrops are a favourite with the international producers. Recently, it featured as Iraq in two war films – the Clint Eastwood-directed American Sniper and Alexandre Moors’ Yellow Birds. For The Night Manager featuring Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie, Morocco was shown as Egypt for six weeks.