Given quite the royal reception on its opening on Women’s Day, Queen deserves most of the glory showered upon it. I say most, because its not perfect, but to be fair some scenes are so exceedingly well done, that it makes up for the gaps.
A great part of the movie is that it is very relatable and for the initial part, what you watch is pretty much the actions, reactions, emotions, discussions of a typical middle class Punjabi family. Then while the settings and surroundings change, the transition is still very smooth and seems natural. Sure it strikes a few jarring notes here and there (which you really wish it hadn’t) but quickly gets back on track. The flash back and forward during the first half also works well and is contextual to the proceedings without seeming out of place.
There are two problems with Queen. One, it tries to say a little too much or maybe nothing at all but stretches certain sequences unnecessarily nonetheless. The other is that it can’t make up its mind whether its protagonist is a simple girl breaking free or just plain dumb. Some scenes would show her as learning – a trial by fire – while others would have you label her as too dumb to save her own life, and that lowers her credibility
Other than that, Queen deserves a pedestal of her own as the movie breaks new barriers and presents a fresh face to a tried, tested and even stale plotline. A familiar sequence/ context would come up and you would grimace at the obvious conclusion it would have – only, it doesn’t. The ending credits are particularly neatly done so stick around even after the movie is over
Queen puts centre focus on Kangana Ranaut and she delivers a near flawless performance in her heavily mainstream role. A far cry from her ‘Gangster’ days (when frankly I found her dialogue delivery intolerable) this is a much more in-control, graceful and highly capable of emoting Kangana Ranaut in Queen. Her expression and delivery is near perfect in every scene and her transition seems natural and smooth as well. You won’t like Raj Kummar’s character one bit and I guess that’s testament to his wonderfully restrained performance as well
If you haven’t gone for a visit yet, you might want to book your tickets to pay tribute to both Queen as well as Kangana for a job well done
