Jhansi Ki Rani (2009 TV series)

• Kratika Sengar as Rani Lakshmibai KrantiGuru / Rana Bakura Double role is twin (2010–2011)
  • Ulka Gupta as young Rani Lakshmibai / Manikarnika aka Manu / Kaali / Kranti Guru (2009–2010)
• Sameer Dharmadhikari as King Gangadhar Rao Newalkar (Rani Laxmibai's Husband)
• Amit Pachori as Tatya Tope / Kranti Guru 2 (Rani Laxmibai's Guru)
• Hemant Choudhary as Raghunath Singh (Commander in Chief of Jhansi)
• Shailesh Dattar as Moropant Tambe (Rani Laxmibai's father)
• Siddharth Vasudev as Samar Singh
• Ravindra Mankani as Baji Rao II
• Dinesh Kaushik as Narsingh Rao
• Puneet Vashist as Karma and Captain Bheem Singh
• Sanjay Swaraj as Rai Dulhajo
• Manoj Verma as Ghulam Ghaus Khan (the most skilled gunman of Jhansi state)
• Shreya Laheri as Sunder
• Aruna Irani as Vahini Sahiba
• Ashnoor Kaur as Prachi (Baji Rao's little daughter)
• Puneet Panjwani as Nana Sahib (2010–2011)
  • Shaheer Sheikh (2009–2010)/ Satyajeet Dubey (2009).as young Nana Sahib
• Aarav Chowdhary as Mangal Pandey
• Shagun Ajmani as Moti Bai
• Jaya Bhattacharya as Sakhu Bai
• Amita Nangia as Lachcho Bai
• Sunila Karambelkar as Jankibai
• Priyam Ambalia as Anand Rao / Damodar Rao
• Tanya Malji as young Indu
• Surbhi Tiwari as Maina Bai
• Ishita Vyas as Jhalkaribai / Rana Bankura
• Tarun Khanna as Ali Bahadur
• Sharhaan Singh as Krishna Rao
• Vishnu Sharma as Vadrayan
• Trishikha Tiwari as Vaaishali
• Dev Khubnani as Dhrupad
• Pranitaa Pandit as Juhi
• Soni Singh as Vishkanya
• Minal Kapoor as Mandira
• Eva Grover as Bhagirathi Tambe
• Benaf Dadachandji as Ganga
• Ashwini Kalsekar as Heera Bai
• Achint Kaur as Larai Sarkar of Orchha[6]
• Sudhanshu Pandey as Kunwar Yuvraj (Prince of Modh).
• Madhurima Tuli as Gayatri
• Jayajirao Scindia of Gwalior
• Shefali Gupta as Naari Sena Chief
• Raja Bahadur of Gwalior
• Dinkar Rao of Gwalior

We wanted to showcase the spirit of Rani Lakshmi Bai to celebrate 150 years of the war of independence as well to commemorate her death. It was her 150th death anniversary last year. So we thought of enlivening consciousness about her.

— Nitin Vaidya, Business Head of Zee TV[3]

The show required months of research to get the right look and ambience. We had to do a lot of research to recreate an era 1834 onwards. We had to recreate locations, costumes, characteristics, locations, action, etc., and all this required over two and a half months of pre-production. This is definitely the biggest show we have ever produced.

— Abhimanyu Singh, Head of Contiloe Entertainment[3]

Effort has been geared towards being true to the facts. For the project, I extensively referred to historical writings by both Indian and western historians. Creative liberties have been taken only in the portrayal of the characters' mannerisms and presentation of particular happenings, without losing touch with the facts and well established truths associated with Rani Laxmi Bai and her times.

— Mairaj Zaidi, scriptwriter of the series[7]

In 2007, during the 150th year of Indian Rebellion of 1857, Zee TV started conceptualizing the life of Rani Lakshmi Bai into a series while they roped Mairaj Zaidi as one of the writers who was already exploring on her since ten years.[8][9]

On 26 January 2011, Zee TV aired a special episode titled Salute at 8 where Rani Lakshmi Bai battles saves her son Anand Rao and her father Moropant Tambe from the Britishers while actors from other series of the channel then were shown paying tribute to Jhansi Rani by singing the National anthem.[10]

The series is filmed at various historical locations and sets created in Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat which includes Karjat, Mumbai in Maharashtra; Maheshwar, Indore in Madhya Pradesh; Aamgaon, Silvasa in Gujarat; Jaipur, Bhangarh Fort in Rajasthan and few others.[2][3][5][11]

The series ended in June 2011.[5] In 2019, the production house Contiole Entertainment rebooted the series as Khoob Ladi Mardaani…Jhansi Ki Rani for Colors TV.[12][13]

The drama was praised for the historical accuracy of the dresses and ornaments worn by the characters. However, doubts were raised on the authenticity of "Ek Veer Stree Ki Kahani... Jhansi Ki Rani" by some historians. Jhansi-based historian Professor Jawaharlal Kanchan protested that the drama is playing with history and providing incorrect information to young minds.[17] The bone of contention for Prof Kanchan is an episode which shows Rani Laxmi Bai wounded by enemy soldiers while on a visit to a hilltop temple in Jhansi. "And despite being hurt she visits the temple. But there is no historical evidence of such an incident and neither is there any such hilltop temple in Jhansi," he points out. Dr A. K. Pandey, director, State Museum, Jhansi states, "makers of the serial should understand that they cannot distort historical facts just for the sake of TRPs."[17]

Drawing reference to Vrindhavan Lal Verma's novel Jhansi Ki Rani, Dainik Bhaskar stated that the relationship between King Gangadhar Rao and Mothi Bai in the series was not portrayed correctly.[18]

Certain reactions from orthodox Indian viewers and historians were negative. The director of the State Museum (Dr A. K. Pandey) at Jhansi states, "Rani Lakshmi Bai is like a goddess to us and seeing her story presented in a distorted manner is painful. Showing intimate bedroom scenes of Jhansi Ki Rani is also unacceptable." Dharmesh Shah, the director of the drama defends it by pointing out, "The British ruled that any kingdom without an heir would be annexed by the East India Company. So Rani Laxmi Bai wanted an heir, because of which we were required to show those intimate scenes. There is no need of creating a hullabaloo."[17]

Soon after launch, it became one of the most watched Hindi GEC. In week 34 of 2009, the series debuted with a rating of 4 TVR.[19][20] In weeks sixteen to eighteen of 2010, it maintained its position in one of the top Hindi GEC programs with 4.2 TVR.[21][22] In week ending 26 June 2010 and the previous week, it garnered 3.5 and 3.4 TVR.[23] As in October 2010, it was at eighth position in top ten Hindi GECs ranging between 2.7 and 3.2 TVR.[24]