Cinema

What’s common between Kangana Ranaut, Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Keira Knightley? They all set to bring heroines of history alive on the silver screen.

2019 is the year of women power, especially in the world of cinema, and actresses will be the queens. So, why are we saying this? It is the time for greatest female characters of history to come alive. Take for example, Yorgos Lanthimos’ work of art, The Favourite, the international release of which is to be February 6. Rachel Weisz and Emma Stone will play to perfection the roles of two enemy cousins in the court of Queen Anne of England, played by Olivia Colman (from Broadchurch and The Crown), who was an absolute personification of the queen who loved women. For the said role, Olivia also received the Best Interpretation of a Role Award at the International Film Festival of Venice. The film is set at the beginning of the 18th century, but the events in it are of the nature that they could be occurring today.

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Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan will be playing heartless Elizabeth I and martyr Mary Stuart, respectively. Will they make your blood freeze in its veins with their interpretations of these historical figures? Yes, we would say. The film Mary Queen of Scots is the cinematic debut of Josie Rourke, a veteran of English theatre. Margot Robbie has followed in the legendary footsteps of Bette Davis and Cate Blanchett, who also brought to life, on the big screen, this mythical person and queen.

One film will ask a very relevant, especially in modern context. For women to claim their power, do they have to go to battle like men? In Colette by Wash Westmoreland (co-director of Still Alice), which will be released on January 16, Keira Knightley reclaims her independence in the role of the young Gabrielle Colette. A very well balanced biopic which also brings to mind, with the dawn of the #MeToo movement, that heroines and role models of history are more relevant today than ever before.

Back home, Kangana Ranaut looks fierce in Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi to be released on January 25. The story is about Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi, who waged a war against mighty British army in 1857. The actor seems to have adapted the character to the T. The year looks promising.