'Jhansi is about a woman’s travel, from her childhood to her 30s'

After backing series such as High Priestess and Locked, it’s a safe bet to say that actor Krishna has a fondness for thrillers told in long-format storytelling. The actor is now backing yet another thriller series, Jhansi, which stars Anjali in the lead role. “The main reason why I started a production house is to tell stories, which I am unable to act in. Jhansi has been a dream for me and writer Ganesh Karthik, and we have been travelling with the script for a couple of years,” said Krishna while speaking at a press meet convened in Chennai on Wednesday.

Made originally in Telugu, Jhansi is set to stream on Disney+ Hotstar from Thursday. It is produced by Krishna and helmed by director Thiru.

“Since Jhansi will release in multiple languages, we thought it would be good to have artists across languages,” added Krishna, as he introduced the cast. Jhansi features Kannada actor Samyukta Hornad, Sharanya Ramachandran from Malayalam, Adithya Shivpink, choreographer Kalyan, and Mumaith Khan, among others.

Adithya, who has already appeared in High Priestess, revealed how he chose to dub for himself in Telugu for the series. “I got to know that Anjali didn't know Tamil when she filmed Kattradhu Thamizh, and yet still dubbed for herself. That hugely inspired me to learn the language,” Adithya added.

On the other hand, Sharanya, who is marking her debut in Telugu with Jhansi, revealed that she plays an acid attack survivor in the series. We have seen a lot of stories of survivors being told off late, like Deepika Padukone's Chhapaak, and the Malayalam film Uyare. Sharanya explained how the role was challenging,  because of prosthetics and make-up.

Amid an influx of thriller content in recent times, cinematographer Arvind who shot Jhansi said how he tried to design the visuals of the series by defining the mood of the scenes.  He mentioned, “There are lots of portions in this film, about a woman’s travel, from her childhood to her 30s. There are certain portions set in the 90s. We tried to capture the mood or the core feeling that the central character feels at each stage.”

Jhansi marks Thiru's debut in the OTT space, and the filmmaker expressed how he was skeptical at the beginning about the expansive runtime of about 30-40 minutes per episode. “I was confused if we had to compromise visually, since it is a new platform for me. Once I heard the narration, I liked the story. Krishna had quoted that the first episode would have a budget of Rs 1 crore. We shot ten episodes in 110 days and one of the wow factors, is definitely the screenplay,” the director mentioned.

Jhansi has Yannick Ben as the action coordinator, and will feature Anjali attempting the action genre for the first time.

Meanwhile, it was also reiterated by director Sathyasiva (who also attended the event) that his Tamil remake of Kannada film, Bell Bottom, with Krishna, will release soon.