Chennai actor TM Karthik transforms into women freedom fighters in a new photo series

From Hazrat Mahal to Rani Lakshmibai, Chennai actor TM Karthik attempts to start a conversation on women warriors of India with a new photo series

Against a smoky backdrop, Velu Nachiyar stands, spear and shield in hand. Adorned in a red sari and jewellery from a bygone era, her posture exudes power. For Tamils worldwide, Nachiyar is “veeramangai”; the first Indian queen to have waged a war against the East India Company. But in this frame, Chennai-based actor and theatre practitioner TM Karthik embodies the role. In an unusual series of photographs, to be launched around Independence Day, Karthik, takes on the roles of five women who rewrote India’s history.