QUEEN MOVIE REVIEW

Releasing amid strong pre-release critical buzz and with glowing reviews from the premiere shows, Vikas Bahl’s Queen is the tale of a timid Indian girl who, after being dumped by her fiancée on the eve of their marriage, undertakes the journey of a lifetime and emerges as a totally spirited, independent and liberated woman. She calls it her honeymoon trip even though she travels all alone, but it soon becomes a journey of self-realization, one where she meets wonderful buddies, encounters totally different cultures and also experiences her first kiss.

Kangana Ranaut as Rani has an author backed role and she is top class all through. She shows signs of vulnerability early on as she navigates through uncomfortable situations, but emerges with a strong heart at the end of it all. You can discern the change in her body language, her dressing and styling by the end of the movie as she truly comes across as a young and beautiful queen.  

The way she tries to escape the overpowering presence of the beautifully captured Eiffel Tower, her struggles against a street mugger and her jolly jigs at the pub and in front of a cab driver on the road, are moments that will stay in mind.

Lisa Haydon as Rani’s bold and beautiful friend in Paris, Vijayalakshmi, is super confident and ‘matter of fact’ in whatever she does. Her interactions and experiences with the diametrically opposite Rani are interesting. Her antics with Kangana at a washroom just before entering a party are daring to say the least. Later in the movie, Kangana innocently handles a sex toy as her male friends look on in amusement, and even this has been passed off in good humor. We have more visuals of shady parties and hookers indulging in pole dancing. Good that the censors didn’t turn too protective. After all the action is happening in Paris and Amsterdam!

Lisa carries off all her hot clothes with panache and the way Rani’s little brother and dad ogle at her through the webcam while chatting, is hilarious. Speaking about Rani’s family, all of them are so endearing and you get the feeling of seeing a real middle-class Punjabi family who are sportive and take life as it comes.

There is a lot of girl-bonding between Rani and Vijayalakshmi and they provide plenty of charming moments. In the second half when the action shifts to Amsterdam, Rani gets to mingle with three male friends from different countries and she even shares the same hostel room with them and gets over all her inhibitions. All the three guys have done well and make you root for their friendship and bonding with Rani.

Rajkummar Rao as the boyfriend who snubs and later gets a dose of his own medicine, performs earnestly as ever.

Amit Trivedi’s songs are so full of life and are aptly placed too. There is a ‘Dev D’ touch in the songs. The climax rock number ‘Kinare’ is the pick of the lot.

While seeing the second half of Queen, you would definitely be reminded of English Vinglish in a good way, as we have a similar plot of a woman who turns over a new leaf, in an alien environment in the company of good people.

The involvement of Anurag Kashyap and Vikramaditya Motwane in the project raised expectations of a good movie, and Queen has definitely turned out to be one.