Queen – Surprisingly a Charming Movie!

Cast: Kangna Ranaut,  Rajkummar Rao, Lisa Haydon, Mish Boyko, Jeffrey Chee Eng Ho, Marco Canadea, Guithob Joseph, Adri Doppenberg
Producers: Anurag Kashyap , Vikramaditya Motwane
Director: Vikas Bahl
Story and Screenplay: Vikas Bahl, Chaitally Parmar, Parveez Sheikh
Dialogues: Anvita Dutt, Kangna Ranaut
Music Director: Amit Trivedi
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Parental Guidance: pole dancing, visit to kinky store, no explicit scenes,but some chatter about it.
Rating: ****
Review: Birjis Adeni Rashed

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGC6vl3lzf0

(The aim and intention of my reviews is to critique and recommend while not revealing the whole story to enjoy the movie when seen. But minor details have been divulged for a proper review!)

When I least expected, I saw a lovely, well made candid movie with excellent performances and charming story of self discovery.  Irrespective of never liking Kangna Ranaut  or her performances in any of her previous movies, I was surprised to have enjoyed and liked her and her character of Raani/Queen’s  lovely progression from a naïve, insecure, simple girl to a strong,  astute, self-confident  woman!  It’s a delightful chick flick, romantic comedy and ‘feel good’ movie worth watching.

Story starts  off with  simple and shy Raani, daughter of  Halvai ( sweet shop owner)  of  middle class  Delhi family  getting dumped by her London- return condescending  fiancé couple of days before the wedding.  To escape the rejection and the desire to fulfill at least her dreams of a trip to Paris and Amsterdam, she sets off on her honeymoon trip alone!

 Besides Kangnas’ acting, the director Vikas  Bahl  amazingly captures the stages of Raani’s  insecure shyness to her confidence and strength through  her clothes,  her body language, her actions and decisions.  Her metamorphosis is slow and realistic and not a dramatic transformation, which makes the story more endearing and legit.

Her  adventures and  mis-adventures,  interesting  moments, conversations, subtle comedy,   tiny details, comical situations, and  characteristic  ‘desi’ practicality of the quirky  character, all are refreshing.   The movie has episodes of many subtle incidents which reflect small details of the character. Example, even in the happiest frenzy of mimicking others who are dancing and peeling   and throwing off jackets,  Raani   peels off her sweater and   instead of throwing  prefers to stuff it into her purse, which she is holding on to while dancing!;   Her innocent notion  that  Indians are good at kissing because actor Emraan Hashmi does it well in his movies!;  or her naivety  for shopping  in a kinky store for  travel souvenirs  in Amsterdam! ;  her desire to add red chilies and ginger garlic to Italian pasta;  her explanation  to the French guy, that the  French toast  she made  is Indian French toast!; Her  cool and confident stride out  of Airport   in a ‘made in India’ sleeveless kurti bought in Paris shows her transformation  but  yet in the boundaries  of traditions!

Besides Kangana’s  brilliant performance,  the movie’s  supporting cast is equally excellent. Lisa Haydon as Sexy Vijaya Lakshmi  carves her performance into the story. The Italian flirtatious restaurateur, the cute  Japanese, Russian and French  roomie’s at Amsterdam’s hostel , the  fiancé Vijay who acts like a jerk(Raj kumar Rao), the parents and chubby brother, all of them in their small parts are well cast and well performed.

The music and songs are good too, and the wedding rhythm of  ‘thumakda’  reminded me of  ‘chunari chunari’!

 Queen falls into the category of movies which pleases the reviewer and critic; hence this movie gets the rare 4 stars!  You walk out of the theater happy and continue to think of the characters pleasantly in the movie …