Star casted as the titular Jhansi, Anjali leads as the lionhearted protagonist of the original Telugu Disney+ Hotstar Special Series having six episodes with their runtime ranging from 28 to 39 minutes. Premiering on October 27, 2022, the series also features supporting actors like Chandini Chowdary, Aadarsh Balakrishna, Raj Arjun, Samyukta Hornad and more, and has been directed by Thiru, while the production was handled by Krishna, who’s also gave footing to other thriller series previously.
Through a majorly action-packed format, the series (released in multiple Indian languages) brings to light the innumerable crimes that seek to victimize women and children. Their trafficking and the supplying ground for drugs forms the igniting, grit inspiring foundation for the show with Anjali’s character right at epicenter of such sufferings and violations.
Disney+ Hotstar describes the series as:
She is a loving wife and a doting mother but an amnesiac. And when her forgotten past catches up to the present, violence follows.
–Jhansi Review Contains Mild Spoilers-
Constantly plagued by the flickers of her past life, Jhansi struggles to grapple with a new reality and family while having to succumb to the pains of her abusive history. Her inner conflict and turmoil finds an outward representation in the abundant action-packed sequences that define the series’ theme.
Though now running a successful fashion boutique of her own, the titular character’s new life has a bearing that she can’t come to terms with. Her endless nightmares and visions of the past trigger a traumatic response from her, and despite the seeming support of her present partner, she is unable to find a peaceful bridging connection between her present and past. She undergoes treatment to piece the puzzle together and the surfacing violent memories prove that she’s not the sole bearer of her hardships. It rather posits her in the midst of a universal tale of injustice breeding in society, which often ends up profiting the empowered and privileged stakeholders.
The prime focus of the series are the three women characters – Jhansi, Sakshi and Baarbie. Each one of them leads a respective ambitious life on differing paths that soon converge. However, despite them being the heart of the plot, their individual plots never dig into their characterizations. Dialogues rather surround themselves around taking a jab at them and patronize them in spite of the excessive parade of female centricity.
Also Read: People’s Choice Awards 2022: BTS and BLACKPINK Get Nominated, Read on
While the titular and main character moves forward, expanding her portrayal and ostensible development, Sakshi is projected as a resolute, dedicated police officer with a hyperfocus on her job, thereby vilifying her as per the mainstream ideologies. Baarbie on the other hand is rarely seen throughout the six episodes, with the exception of the subsidiary role played by her in Jhansi’s flashbacks. Building up the dynamic shared between the first and the third dominant women characters through the same, the series makes room for the dearly anticipated reunion of the two but never satisfies the end.
Too many subplots and supporting characters are introduced simultaneously but the thrust of the storyline is the dysfunctional and brutal coming-of-age trajectory of the titular character in reverse, and still it barely circles back to her growth in a fulfilling manner. Each bit of these numerous stories is linked to the other but the many details spilled early on through the networking and haywire labyrinth are easily forgotten by the end. On top of that, the one-dimensionality of the characters is a weighty flaw that keeps proving its limitations time and again.
Whenever the show is specifically dealing with Jhansi’s trauma, the picturization of the same tends to slip into a range of melodrama and is reductively exaggerated with the sole focus on formulaic vengeance. The series takes the easier way out by sticking to the lane of visualized and choreographed combat, channeling her anger, but barely treats her emotional and mental injuries via an authentic and personal conversation.
Jhansi: Final Thoughts
I discern the concept of leaving us on a cliffhanger to enhance the dramatic impact and keep us wanting for more but I can’t wrap my head around the exclusivity with which the first season pushes out major developing arcs out of the story. The protagonist has a long way to go to in the process of healing but her relations of present day with the sole companion of her past are not even initiated. Moreover, once again the pressing condemnation of women in the show is singled out on the basis of them being ‘too ambitious’.
Both Sakshi and Jhansi are pressurized into picking one side of their lives (and identity), otherwise it compromises their relationship with their partner. This limiting and threatening representation has been far too overused at this juncture for it to once again drag them down. The finale itself makes you feel as if more depth could’ve been incorporated into it and even the finishing moments seem quite abrupt.
Heavy plot twists therein keep up with the nail-biting tone of the thriller but are not enough to ground the intentions of the show which is held up by cinematic visuals that merely attempt to keep up the looks of it and nothing more profound or pleasing to the soul is ever delivered in the process.
Jhansi is streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Also Read: In Her Hands Trailer: The Story of Zarifa Ghafari, Afghanistan’s Youngest Female Mayor