Hungama Ho Gaya!


          A month and a half late into waking up to the call of Queen, I proverbially realize that it was better for me to have watched it late rather than postponing it to eternity at the fag-end of my diary notes, saving it for my doomsday-special-last-minute-list.

          Kangana Ranaut in and as Queen, steals the show as she breaks away from her stereotypical ‘bold & beautiful’ mould and takes wing as the typical desiest of desi girls who embarks on her dream European ‘honeymoon’ all alone & heart-broken; ultimately, a journey that liberates her from the fear and humiliation that had been haunting her after the man she loved walks away from her life just a day before their wedding, flinging her into depths of depression & disgrace.

          Queen is an overwhelming voyage that sets sail when a diffident Rani timidly expresses to her parents, her wish to leave for her ‘honeymoon’ to Paris & Amsterdam as planned, but all alone. During the passage we come across a Rani doubting her own resolve, a Rani hiding inside her hotel room in Paris afraid of the world, a Rani not letting go of her handbag when a thief tries to mug her, a Rani slowly gaining the courage to fend for herself in an alien land, a Rani dancing with vengeance at her pitiable past, a Rani in an inebriated state telling her newfound friend Vijaylaxmi that Indian women were not even allowed to burp back at home, a Rani who openly expresses wonder at the lip-to-lip kissing foreigners, a Rani with her silly Santa-Banta jokes and also the beautiful and strong friendship that buds between Rani and her three interracial room-mates while in Amsterdam.

          The voyage all by herself for the first time in her life awakens Rani’s liberated self. It is Rani’s ability to get the message across, with all the gentleness of a masakali, to her betrayer, her fiancé who walks out on her just a day before their wedding, that totally won me over. Rani’s gentle hug to her selfish betrayer in the end, thanking him for letting go of her is a very powerful gesture. Self –awakening appears to have only heightened the sense of gentleness and justice within Rani. There is the grace of a queen in the awakened Rani’s every word, every move and every act. In a world where most people exist at the mercy of rage, revenge and wrath that runs loose everywhere and wreaks havoc all over, it would be hard to find a real ‘Rani Mehra’ anywhere though. 

           Like the enduring symbol of the white dove of peace, Vikas Bahl’s Queen epitomizes innocence, gentleness & liberation and is sure to rule over hearts for a very long time to come.A movie that elegantly rope-walks the thin line between tragedy & comedy. Queen is a movie for all times, for everyone…. 
"Intensely local and gloriously global”


Pic & Quotes Courtesy: http://indianexpress.com/, http://www.tellytadka.net

                                                                                                                                                                                      

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