Queen Review

If there’s one thing we have come to expect from Phantom Productions, it has to be out of the box, not run of the mill films that tend to steer clear of the normal Hindi films we get to experience on a daily basis. Lootera and the recently released Hasee Toh Phasee followed that pattern. Now they are back with their latest film Queen, directed by Vikas Bahl who holds a joint stake in the company. Queen is slated to be a coming-of-age story set on a typical Rajouri Garden girl from Delhi. Does it live up to the billing? Or does it surpass it? Let’s find out.

Story: Queen is about Rani (Kangana Ranaut). It is about a girl who hasn’t seen life apart from her own friends and family because she grew up in a guided atmosphere. Rani is about to get married to her old sweetheart Vijay (Rajkumar Rao) and gets dumped by him just a day before the marriage. She locks herself in her room after hearing the news and comes out of it only to express her desire to go to her honeymoon alone. This decision and trip sets off the film. She jets off to the bylanes of Paris and rediscovers life away from the bustling chaos of India’s capital city. She also makes a friend called Vijaylaxmi (Lisa Haydon) who makes Rani unknow everything she has been brought up to learn. Rani then visits Amsterdam and diversifies her friend circle with a bouquet of friends from countries like Japan, Italy and Spain. The various incidences laden throughout the film only help Rani in her discovery of her own self.

Queen Movie Review

Queen Movie Review

Screenplay and Direction: Parvees Shaikh, Chaitally Parmar and director Vikas Bahl have been credited with the screenplay of Queen. What is visible from the first frame of Queen is the deep-rootedness that the film has with the real life. So many Hindi films have been set in the world of Punjabi weddings, but Queen gets the tone just right. The frothyness of the lead character is further accentuated by the tremendous research of the writers. Queen never loses its plot even though it stays on a predictable course of comedy and drama because the small moments make a mark big enough to make the toughest of people cry. That’s where the victory of the director lies. He makes his audience weep without resorting to melodramatic sequences and dialogues. Vikas Bahl shows us through his sophomore directorial effort that the farther we go, the closer we come to our own conscience.

Queen would have been half the film it is, had the technical aspects of the film not been of the topmost quality. The cinematography by Late Bobby Singh and Siddharth Diwan is splendid and they are able to capture the beautiful cities of Delhi, Paris and Amsterdam astutely. The editing by Abhijit Kokate and Anurag Kashyap works to the tee. The dialogues are spot on, the casting is first rate. The music of Queen matches the desired tone of the film and the songs have also been composed keeping the flavour of the film in mind. But Amit Trivedi needs to rediscover himself as his sound has started to sound similar.

Acting: Queen is Rani is Kangana Ranaut is Queen. Queen is all about Kangana’s Rani and Kangana doesn’t disappoint. Her portrayal of Rani is so brilliant that you can feel the character’s inner turmoil even though she never expresses much in the sad scenes. She is loud and garish when she is within the confines of the familiar environment of Delhi but quickly goes into a shell when she reaches Delhi only to rediscover a completely different facet to her character. And it is to Kangana Ranaut’s complete credit that we never for a moment look at Rani as Kangana. Rani is Rani. Just that. And that is why Queen works as a film. Rajkumar Rao does a fine job as the chauvinist Vijay and Lisa Haydon is consistent as Vijaylaxmi unlike her accents.

Conclusion: Queen does what English Vinglish did, and takes it a step further with its realism and the portrayal of comedy on tragedy. Queen (thanks to the brilliance of the director) never quite forgets where it came from and where it has to go. And that is what makes Queen such a fantastic little watch. It thrives on its predictable start and makes a European meal out of its failings but it never forgets the taste of Gol Gappas. Queen is one of the best films to have released in the recent few years with a woman headlining the act. You would not want to miss out on such a sumptuous film because the aftertaste lingers on even longer than the runtime of the film itself.

Box Office: Queen is supposed to take a below par opening but the word of mouth of this film can be expected to rise from the first day itself. By the end of its run, Queen should end up as a profitable venture for the makers.

Positives:

  • Vikas Bahl’s direction shines
  • The writing of Queen is seeped in realism
  • Kangana Ranaut delivers a performance for the ages
  • The cinematography and the editing sync to make for a fluid film
  • The music of Queen matches the tone of the film
  • Sweet aftertaste of the film

Negatives:

  • The stereotypical characters that Rani befriends in Amsterdram
  • Lisa Haydon’s acting is inconsistent but that is not much of a deterrent

Rating: ★★★★☆ Must watch!

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21 Comments

  • I want to watch this film,but my friends won’t agree on this….
    Will have to show this indicine review to convince them.

  • Queen has taken a poor opening,i hope that the film does’nt go and fall into the club of Lootera,Swades and Dedh Ishqiya….rather it should go on the way of Kahaani,Vicky Donor,OMG…

  • Kangana is very much underrated only because she does’nt have an alleged relationship with any actor in the industry unlike Katrina,Deepika,PC etc.

  • ther has to be something special in that movie …… IMDB has rated it 9.4 equivalent to most of the OSCAR winning movies ……..and indian critics also rated 83 out of 100 published in indicine ….

  • Don’t compare hasee toh phasee with lootera. .HTP was a nice film. But lootera was purely a masterpiece and out of excellence. .and i think if a movie like d3 is getting 4/5,then queen sud get 4.5 atleast.

  • With this overwhelming reviews coming in and the appraisal of Kangana’s performance,will Queen and Kangana be nominated.Even though,there are more films to come,but very few will get this kind of positive reviews.Will Queen and kangana be rejected as what happened to Lootera and Sonakshi?
    Will the awards be given to the money spinners again? Waiting ………

  • Some very very strict critics lyk subhra gupta and others have also given it 4/5. .i will surely watch queen. .kangana is most underrated actress today.she was brillient in k3 even,which was ignored. . .talentwise,she can give tough compitition to vidya,pc even. . .dp toh door ki baat hai. .

  • Srk is the biggest star.talaash actor is flop actor.aamir has only 2 filmfare awards for best actor,srk has 8 filmfare awards for best actor.and aamir has 8 hits while srk has 28 hits.so,who is best?

  • Kangii Rockssss….Taran Adarsh also gave four stars….She’s coming another women centric film called Revolver Rani….She’s going to breal male dominance in Bollywood…

  • Wow! All the reviews coming for the film suggest its a must watch. I will try to watch it soon. I also believe Kangana is really underrated.

  • Kangana is most underrated actress of recent time,she is better actress than any other of his generation,only behind from Vidhya but soon she will be get her due credit in future,Kangana hasn’t done any movie opposite to popular lead star like Khans,hrithik(not opposit),Ranbir,Saif etc. But still making her present felt strongly, deepika,katrina ke pas beauty h but they are far from talents. @navodas why you need to discuss aamir and Srk here. Aamir had national award as actor while Srk don’t,he is Padam bhushan while Srk had Padam shri.fool stop braking nonsense.

  • It is unbelievable dat a small movie like queen got 4/5 it might have good content unlike big movies I vl try to watch dis movie asap anyways congrats kangana keep on doing like dis gud movies ??

  • guys i am watched queen today and i must say that it is one of the best movie of bollywood in recent times .story was simple and feel real but it is acting of kangana that take the average scene into another level.this is the best acting of any actress in last decade of bollywood movie who takes the film on her shoulder and make hell entertaining every scene.also supporting cast was brilliant infact every actor in the movie leave his/her expression especially three boy room mates of rani who leave with her in one room, all three are fantastic.music of amit trivedi is also great specially o gujariya and remix of hungama ho gaya song.overall 4.5/5.must watch and make this movie atleast hit otherwise it will be shame for india.

  • watched this movie.. srcly loved the movie. the simple story telling in mainstream way is the plus point. only giving importance on the acting make this film delightful. Have to admit that Kangna did great work. The chiller party director wont let me down,either for anybody else..

  • a very nice film, best performance by Kangana Ranout.. interesting, like R Balki’s films.. hilarious specially in the second half.. simple story but great in direction

    Applause for Kangana.. her best performance ever.. I don’t think that she’d make any better.. had a great time watching it.

  • Awesome…. movie after a long time i have watched a great movie,
    Those who want to see a real acting go and watch this movie … I recommended to my every friend go n watch…. And i also watch 1 more time …..

  • I saw the film 3 times at cinema.. this film MUST be nominated for the academy award.. truly deserving.

  • let srk release his film release on non-holiday then his film will be flop . Srk has no dare to release non holiday .

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