'Queen' Review: Kangana All the Way!!!

My first impression on seeing the trailers of ‘Queen’ wasn’t positive.  ‘The same Punjabi music and the same nach-gana.  Hasn’t Kangana done this already in ‘Tannu Weds Mannu’?’ I wondered.  But my partner – a big Kangana fan - had already warned that we’d watch the movie no matter what and I was bracing myself for a terrible outing.  Until Friday morning.  Almost everyone was singing deliriously on how good the movie was and I wasn’t yet convinced.

 ‘Queen’ (directed by almost-first-timer, Vikas Behl – he co-directed ‘Chillar Party’ that won the National Award for the Best Children’s Movie a while ago) opens with the chatter on the impending marriage of Rani, a bholi-bhali Punjabi kudi from Rajauri Garden, Delhi with Vijay, engineer working in London.  Love-cum-arranged marriage between children of two friends.  And, Vijay (Rajkummar Rao) develops cold feet over marrying a ‘behnji’; so he calls it off a day before the ceremony leaving Rani crestfallen.  The girl – who’s dreamed on for long to go on a ‘phoren’ honeymoon – decides to take off on her own to the European destinations – Paris and Amsterdam.  On this journey, egged on by her grandma’s words over the phone (‘agar TV hi dekhna that toh idhar hi dekh sakti thi; Paris jaane ki kya zaroorat thi?’), a chance-friendship with a very hippy VJ (Vijayalakshmi, a half-Indian hotel staff in Paris) and a resolve-forming encounter with a thief, and her very ‘awakening’ sojourn of Amsterdam, Kangana morphs from a self-pitying douche-bag to someone who opens up to the idea that there’s life beyond shaadi, pati and pyar.  And, as she sheds her inhibitions - and even takes a ‘selfie’ in satin and sends it to Vijay – her ex-beau rediscovers his ‘mojo’ for her and launches his search for her to win her back. 

‘Queen’ belongs to the genre of movies that are about the protagonist’s self-discovery and coming-of-age – like, ‘Wake Up Sid’, ‘Zindagi Na Milega Dubara’ and ‘English Vinglish’.  And, the story is not completely hatke.  But what sets it apart, along with the quirk of Rani who wants to go on her honeymoon even though the wedding gets cancelled is the treatment to the subject.  Also, this is the equivalent of the bromances that we're seeing of late! Never OTT, never in-your-face, a sparkling script and screenplay, subtly witty and natural dialogues (oh yes, Kangana has co-penned them!), and some real foot-tapping music (including the suddenly-rediscovered-and-trending-mightily ‘Hungama Ho Gaya’).  The parting scene of the movie best symbolises how understated the entire stuff was!

And, of course every person who’s part of the cast has delivered amazingly.  Rajkummar Rao as the self-centred, cocksure fiancé is convincing and anyone else would possibly have reduced the role to a caricature.  Lisa Hayden as the Parisian Indian is a revelation – a just amalgamation of seduction and warmth.  Even the bit part players – dadi, the motley friends of Kangana in Amsterdam, her parents and ‘motu’ brother – are lovely, believable and endearing.  Finally, it’s an out-and-out Kangana’s show who appears in almost every frame.  The best compliment that could be paid to her is you forget it’s Kangana and think of her as a plane-Jane Rani for almost the entire movie – and root for her in every scene.  Be it when she’s crying inconsolably at the Café when her beau calls off the marriage or when she innocently is picking up souvenirs for her family at a sex toy shop or advising Lisa not to sleep around with everyone or not getting that the jokes are on her several times, she’s absolutely marvellous. 

There are some stuff that jar too.  The cinematography is pedestrian.  Even Paris and Amsterdam look ordinary here.  And, indoors are uniformly dull and boring.  Also, some of the scenes are so clichéd you know what’s coming from miles away – like the cookery challenge to Kangana.  And, easily the movie could have been trimmed by another 10-15 minutes even though you don’t ever get bored.  But, then these are minor things that only a critic cribs about.  Just don’t miss this.  Go watch it to celebrate the woman/women in you or in your life! This certainly is one of the best 'coming of age' movies made on a woman and would stand out in 2014 among the best of the lot.