Queen Review

Kangana Ranaut, our queen, is an unapologetically stubborn, fierce and opinionated woman who was born in a small town called Bhambla. Her heart was always set on performing hearts, but due to her parent’s constant pressure to pursue medicine, she ran away from home to fulfil her dreams. She was the kind of woman who had no tolerance for discrimination and did not care about fitting into the molds made by society for women. In fact, Kangana had also turned into a dialogue writer for this film as the character Rani was very personal and relatable to her. She is also known as the ‘queen of controversy’ as she is not afraid to live on her own terms and never minces her words. This often spikes controversy among the press.

Queen introduced us to a timid, dewy eyed, innocent girl, Rani, who is preparing for the biggest and most awaited day of her life- her wedding day. However, after

being dumped at the altar, she embarks on a journey of self transformation and comes back from her “honeymoon/heartbreak holiday” in Paris and Amsterdam with the realisation that she is worth so much more than what she’s been accredited for. This is not a typical movie in which a woman after being betrayed by her lover avenges him or magically transforms into a completely new person. This is the story of a vulnerable girl who finally gets the chance to grow into a confident and independent women. Exploring new cultures, different kinds of food, and unique lifestyles bursted her bubble and introduced her to people who truly live only for themselves; people who aren’t concerned about what society thinks of them.

Some girls dream of standing on their own feet and proving to society that they can do whatever a boy can, while some dream of getting happily married and serving their family. Rani had happily accepted that she was the latter as that was the norm for women around her. She never realised that the itinerary of her life was laid out by everyone but her. She was so sheltered in “mummy-daddy’s mithai shop” that she never listened to her heart or her head. And her heart and life were set for her fiancee Vijay, played by Rajkumar Rao. He also casually broke up their marriage over a cup of coffee because Rani was too traditional. You could see in Rani’s eyes that her entire world had come crashing down. But that didn’t stop her from deciding to go to her honeymoon alone. Her parents were extremely supportive and understanding of her decisions whether it was the fact she would be going to a foreign country alone or her strange antics like calling them at 3am to ask the English translation of “hing”. Being a typical Delhi girl obsessed with her earrings from Lajpatnagar, only Bollywood songs had the power to make her dance her heart out and bring out the party animal that had been crushed by the words of the infamous aunty -jis and mummy jis. Only after getting drunk does she truly speak her heart out about the restrictions she had all of her life, something she would’ve never been able to do in a conscious state.

This movie will teach you that you can find happiness in unexpected places. Rani went to Paris to lick her wounds alone but instead formed lifelong relationships and had the time of her life. Strangers who she met by chance-(Vijaylaxmi, Oleksander, Taka and Tim) were her partners in crime and pillars of support. The movie will show you its never too early to reinvent yourself. It’ll teach you that love and marriage are not about who is superior, and a long relationship does not equal a strong relationship. After her eventful trip, Rani was able to walk away from Vijay and a toxic relationship, from a man who would have always stopped her from blossoming. She learned countless lessons on her trip but the most important one being that a queen does not need a king to rule the world.