So I watched Queen the other night. It may come across
another movie on women breaking free, and their empowerment, except that it’s
not. It’s one of the most heart-warming, soul touching movies that I have ever
watched.
Notwithstanding the
fact that it was shot at Paris and Amsterdam (the two places I want to visit
the most!), every single frame, every dialogue, every expression, every dress
that she wore throughout the movie is so real that it makes you feel as if the
screen is a window through which you are following her life, in real time.
Beautiful screenplay with flashback scenes interspersed in between. The
backdrop which is so plain and so real will leave you wanting for more. You’ll
start dreading the end because you just don’t want the movie to stop. You want
it to keep going on and on, you just want to sit there and keep watching and
watching. I, for one, did not want to budge from the seat even after they were
done showing the credits. And you know, I wasn’t the only one feeling that way.
I noticed that despite the movie having ended, people were still sitting on
their seats, looking at Queen’s Facebook timeline following the credits, and it
wasn’t until the screen went black that they actually started swarming towards
the exit doors. One other movie that I remember this happening was The Dark
Knight Rises, where we all knew that it was the last of the series, and we
absolutely did not want to come to terms with that. Although Queen belongs to a
totally different genre, I felt the same way. I just did not want this movie to
end.
Coming to the story, it’s about this girl by name Rani, who
amidst a personal crisis discovers a whole new self, amidst whole new people,
at a whole new place. And the transformation that you see her go through at
each stage of the movie is heart rendering. We have all known this girl Rani,
who is an obedient daughter, who never lies, or cheats, and prays regularly,
wears decent clothes, and always consults her boyfriend on every decision that
she has to take, and lets them take the decision for her even if she isn’t
happy with it. After all, that is what we have all been taught to do as girls.
Be an obedient daughter, sister, wife, daughter-in-law et al. But what happens
when you discover the beauty of being yourself? When you discover the joy of
taking your own decisions, living by your own, fighting the world on your own,
making your own friends, and just seeing the world. The joy of discovering
people radically different from who you are, and with who you still happen to
connect the most is so sublime, that it’s the most difficult to translate on
screen. Which is why you end up appreciating the direction and her acting even
more. Every transition, expression, and every character is wonderfully
sketched. Movies that you connect with become a reason for you joy, and this is
one such movie, where you are left so happy, so exhilarated, that you can’t
help but smile to yourself throughout. Oh! The simple joys of life.
Queen, you are the Queen! And Mr. Vikas Bahl, I can’t wait to
watch your next movie.
