Queen Review

One Line Review: An emotionally charged story of a girl who rediscovers herself after a tragic heartbreak.

Positive Points: A superb and high standard performance delivery by Kangana Ranaut; an emotionally appealing story; groovy party tracks.

Negative Points: A couple of dud scenes in the film; lacking a bit in maturity makes you feel it could have been better.

Plot: Rani Mehra (Kangana Ranaut) is a typical middle class Punjabi girl who lives with her family in Delhi and is to get married with Vijay (Rajkummar Rao). With everything in place and all the preparations done, Rani is all excited about her marriage when suddenly hell breaks loose when Vijay confides and tells her that he has decided not to marry her.

The news is like a bolt from the blue for Rani, who is shattered and devastated. After a couple of days of mourning her condition, she decides to go to Paris on a short trip, but doesn't know that a whole new journey lies ahead of her, filled with self discovery, joy and new buddies on other part of the globe.

She befriends Vijaya Lakshmi (Lisa Haydon) a fun loving, funky and uber-modern Paris girl who helps and supports her to get suited to the surroundings and enjoy her stay in the city. She also befriends three guys in Amsterdam with whom she finds comfort, solace and bondage.

Her stay in the city also proves to be a boon for her as she discovers her talent in cooking with an Italian chef who gives her opportunity to demonstrate her skills.

Direction And Other Technical Aspects: Direction succeeds in showcasing the life of a cheerful middle class Delhi girl and the aftermath of the devastating heartbreak she has been through, although one may feel that an element of sophistication lacks in the overall backdrop and it could have been much better.

Performances: One has to agree that Kangana has hit a new home run in the record of her all time performances by perfectly portraying the character of a middle class and simple bubbly girl, who goes through an emotionally disturbing phase after she is dumped. She also succeeds in showing the confusion and culture shock felt by the character on her arrival and during her stay in Europe, though it becomes a bit too much that the audience may start cussing the character for it's ignorance and foolishness.

Rajkummar Rao's performance is marked with his usual characteristic frustration, anger and indifference. Peripheral characters help to keep the film in its right position.

Performances by the foreign trio are the life of the second half of the film which makes it a bit more interesting and engaging.

Music: The film is a mash up of groovy party tracks. Even the first one 'London Thumakda' which is a Punjabi wedding party track starts the film with a desi boom. 'O Gujariayan' is about the protagonist's discovery of a completely new world outside her comfort zone. However, given its story, the film also has its share of sad music tracks such as 'Harjaiyaan' and 'Ranjhaa'.

Final verdict: The film is a kind of fresh attempt at delivering a completely new storyline to the audiences who have been getting doses of the typical Bollywood masala fight and romance. The story is crafted with a fresh approach where the audiences are brought from the initial 'Bollywood like' Punjabi homely atmosphere to an international scenario which is a complete contrast to the backdrop. It's all about the discovery by the protagonist about her choices, her likes, her new discoveries and about herself. Although the movie fails to reach a level where it could have, it is still a good watch and certainly a fresh one.