New Delhi, Dec. 6 -- In 1953, Sohrab Modi made Jhansi Ki Rani, a Hindi film about Lakshmibai, one of the leaders of the 1857 rebellion. As the British forces start bombarding her fort, the queen asks her general, Ghaus Khan, why Jhansi's cannons aren't returning fire. He replies that the British guns are positioned behind a Hindu temple and that he doesn't want to risk destroying it. Lakshmibai orders him to fire back, then starts to pray. The temple survives the bombardment.
The same incident is restaged in Kangana Ranaut and Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi's Manikarnika, another film about Lakshmibai, with Ranaut in the lead. The 2019 film has the queen riding out with a few men, somehow not getting shot by an entire standing army, and persona...