Atul Kulkarni has been roped in to play the historical character of Ramchandra Pandurang Tope aka Tatya Tope in the Kangana Ranaut-starrer Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi. The film, which is directed by Krish, is the biopic on the queen of Jhansi, Laxmibai.
The actor has already started preparing for the role. This also includes learning sword fighting. Taking about his preparation to a publication, Kulkarni said, “This is something I’ve never done before. I am doing all my sword fighting stunts myself.”
The makers have hired a body double to shoot the actor’s stunt sequences. But Kulkarni prefers to do all his stunts by himself. “My body-double hired to do the stunts just sits around on the sets doing nothing,” he joked.
This is not the first time that he is playing a real, historical character. In Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti, one of his two characters was the revolutionary Ram Prasad Bismil.
Tatya Tope was one of the prominent leaders during the 1857 mutiny against the British. He played a key role in helping Laxmibai reclaim the city of Gwalior from the British during that period. Tope was hanged by the British on 18 April 1859 for his rope in the Mutiny.