Rani Chandra (The Sarah Jane Adventures)

Doctorwhocharacter
name=Rani Chandra
series=The Sarah Jane Adventures


caption=Rani Chandra in promotional media for "The Sarah Jane Adventures".
affiliation=Sarah Jane Smith
race=Human
planet=Earth
era=Early 21st century
start="The Day of the Clown"cite website | url = http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2165929/filmoseries#tt0862620 | title = Filmography by TV series for Anjili Mohindra | date = 2008-09-04 | accessdate = 2008-09-04 | publisher = Internet Movie Database]
portrayed=Anjli Mohindra

Rani Chandra is a fictional character played by Anjli Mohindra, a regular in the British science fiction television series "The Sarah Jane Adventures".

Conception

Rani Chandra was introduced into "The Sarah Jane Adventures" as a replacement character for departing character Maria Jackson played by Yasmin Paige. Paige left the series as a regular in order to focus on her GCSEs.cite website
url = http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=new_rani_interviewed
title = New Rani interviewed!
date = 2008-08-29
accessdate = 2008-09-04
last = Berriman
first = Ian
publisher = "SFX"] Rani's parents, Haresh and Gita Chandra, replace Maria's parents, Alan and Chrissie Jackson, as Alan departs with their daughter and Chrissie no longer has reason to show up.cite website
url = http://sarahjanetv.blogspot.com/2008/08/comings-goings.html
title = Comings & Goings
date = 2008-08-20
accessdate = 2008-09-04
publisher = SARAH-JANE.tv] cite website |url = http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a127526/cult-spy-autumn-preview.html | title = Cult Spy: Autumn Preview | date = 2008-08-31 | accessdate = 2008-09-04 | publisher = Digital Spy | last = Rawson-Jones | first = Ben]

Rani shares her name with the Rani, a recurring villain from the classic series of "Doctor Who". Russell T Davies told readers of "Doctor Who Magazine" that Rani is "not "the" Rani". [cite journal |last=Davies |first=Russell T |authorlink=Russell T Davies |date=15 October 2008 (cover date) |title=Further Investigation! |journal=Doctor Who Magazine |issue=400 |pages=p. 53 |publisher=Panini Publishing |location=Tunbridge Wells]

Character history

In "The Day of the Clown", Rani and her parents move into the Jackson's old house on Bannerman Road opposite Sarah Jane and Luke Smith's house.cite website | url = http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=new_rani_interviewed | title = New Rani interviewed! | date = 2008-08-29 | accessdate = 2008-09-04 | last = Berriman | first = Ian | publisher = "SFX"] Rani soon joins Sarah Jane's investigative gang after noseying into their lives.cite website | url = http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=new_rani_interviewed | title = New Rani interviewed! | date = 2008-08-29 | accessdate = 2008-09-04 | last = Berriman | first = Ian | publisher = "SFX"] cite website |url = http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/a127526/cult-spy-autumn-preview.html | title = Cult Spy: Autumn Preview | date = 2008-08-31 | accessdate = 2008-09-04 | publisher = Digital Spy | last = Rawson-Jones | first = Ben] cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sja/sites/mrsmith/noflash/personal_data/?video=rani|title=Rani Chandra|accessdate=2008-09-04|publisher=BBC]

Characterisation

The official "The Sarah Jane Adventures" website offers the following description of Rani Chandra:

cquote|"15, inquisitive, smart and sassy. Wants to be a journalist, a sort of junior Sarah Jane, and thus idolises Sarah Jane just a little and in return, Sarah Jane takes her happily on her investigations. Rani enjoys Luke's company because they're both quite bright and eager to learn. However, she's equally fond of Clyde because he's cool and a bit rebellious, and has charm."
200|50|-CBBC "The Sarah Jane Adventures" websitecite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/sja/sites/mrsmith/noflash/personal_data/?video=rani|title=Rani Chandra|accessdate=2008-09-04|publisher=BBC]

In an interview for "SFX", Mohindra asserts that Rani and Maria are only similar in the extent that they are both girls, live in the same house and " [i] n personality terms... [they are] both quite strong-willed", although she notes that there are "a lot less tears from Rani than there were from Maria." She describes Rani's relationship with Sarah Jane as "a lot different" to that between Sarah Jane and Maria. Mohindra notes that Rani is "very much an apprentice of Sarah Jane... [although] at first...Sarah Jane is not really that interested in taking on another child." Rani shadows Sarah Jane and copies her behaviour to help her deal with a situation. She is keen on fighting mentally as oppose to physically and Mohindra likes the fact that Rani is "a girl between two guys at times".cite website | url = http://www.sfx.co.uk/page/sfx?entry=new_rani_interviewed | title = New Rani interviewed! | date = 2008-08-29 | accessdate = 2008-09-04 | last = Berriman | first = Ian | publisher = "SFX"]

References

External links