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Ketan Mehta, the creator of monumental epics on such creatures of history as Mangal Pandey, Sardar Patel and Dashrath Manjhi, was all set to start his career’s most ambitious biopic.
No one had attempted a film on Rani Laxmibai (aka Jhansi ki rani), the warrior queen who battled for her self-hood and country with a baby tied to her back. Ketan was up for the challenge. He had penciled in Kangana Ranaut for the title role in Rani Of Jhansi: The Warrior Queen.
Then it all fell apart.
Ketan is still trying to recover from the blow that Kangana dealt to his most ambitious dream.
10 years of my research, data and creative inputs on the project… I had shared it all with her… how was I to know it would all be vandalised so mercilessly? What she did was hijack 10 years of my hard work.Ketan Mehta, Filmmaker
Kangana translocated the entire project to producer Kamal Jain and director Krish without Ketan Mehta’s knowledge or consent.
“In February I was in hospital for a minor surgery. When I came out, I got to know of Kangana’s doing through the media. No, she did not inform me that she was not doing my film. As far I was concerned, we were fully into pre-production just weeks away from going on the floors, when she did this,” says Ketan softly, still unable to fully process the enormity of the betrayal.
On how many levels is this unethical? It is 10 years of my hard work and research which I shared with her without hesitation as one would with an ally in a creative partnership. She just decided that she wanted to take my project to another producer Kamal Jain, thereby effectually sabotaging all my plans.
Ketan says he already had a co-producer on board. “Rani Of Jhansi was planned as a English-Hindi bilingual with Gurinder Chadha as the British producer. It was going to the first full-fledged Indo-UK co-production. Where, when and how did Kamal Jain (who now produces the film) come into the picture? I’ve no clue. Only Kangana can answer that question,” he says.
Ketan can only wonder at the levels of unscrupulousness revealed in the relocation of his project to an unauthorised source.
It is a really lowdown thing to do. I had to take legal recourse not because I wanted to stir up some action. But because it is important for me to stand up now when so much of my reputation is at stake. She cannot do this. I don’t know what level of ambition impels her to this level of unprofessionalism. But if I kept quiet about it, I’d be encouraging an unsavoury practice.
The brilliant filmmaker, known the world over for his masterly portrayal of oppression and women’s empowerment in Mirch Masala and Maya Memsaab, now faces the biggest challenge of his career.
I’ve to prove to myself and to the audience that such a setback won’t stop me from making my film. I will make Rani Of Jhansi. Maybe this incident was meant as a warning that I was perhaps not going about it the right way. Now it’s time to gather all my inner strength and make my film. I can’t allow Kangana to take away 10 years of my life.
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