it starts like cocktail, middles like english vinglish and
ends like highway. the mood and pace is similar to many previously attempted
films in Bollywood and beyond. there is little it says that has not already
been oft-repeated, and yet, it is one of the most original films i've seen
coming out of mainstream Indian cinema.
what, then, makes queen reign supreme in my heart, you ask?
it is crafted in the highest traditions of cinematic visualization. it does not
pander to or give in to or dumb down to the level of expected idiocy by the
average viewer. we have the best actors delivering the best dialogues, edited
impeccably into sequences that breath newness in every frame.
we have Ranaut who displays great range and spontaneity as
her character graduates from a victimized, docile would-be housewife to a
confident, independent go-getter who has her head and heart in the right
places. we have writers and a director who seem to have given a free hand to
the actors to improvise as they will, resulting in a script which is charmingly
offhand at places yet to the point when needed.
the music is an instant winner, something which has come to
be rather obvious when Amit Trivedi helms the symphonies. the editing, too,
adds layers of cohesiveness despite (or rather, because of) its occasional
non-linearity. Many pivotal scenes lead up to an effect and the narrative promptly jumps
to a short flashback explaining its cause: the cinematic equivalent of a footnote reference.
 |
| "Mera sense of humour bohot achha hai!" |
a lot has been said about the film already. I do not wish to
add to the crowd and be as brief as possible. Queen talks of female
emancipation in the 21st Century India like no movie has ever done before in
mainstream Bollywood. It does not preach or harp, instead employing humour and
satire as tools to drive home its message. The sexual and intellectual freedom
of the fairer sex is an issue that makes a showing here with almost poetic
subtlety: it creeps up on you when you're too busy beaming at the saccharine
overdose on-screen. Where others would have degenerated into angry diatribes
and arguments, Queen throws up questions (and answers them, too) without losing
its humour. We have the eponymous heroine proverbially discovering herself
through travel and gaining new experiences overseas.
Travel and exploration are like secondary characters in the
film. I was reminded of the following Mark Twain quote not once or twice, but
throughout the movie:
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and
narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.
Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by
vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."
I realize this to be the one of the finest indications of
true wisdom. to be open-minded and free from the poison of hatred, hesitance
and presumption, one must travel as far and wide as possible. to accommodate
and acknowledge a contrary view to yours is the biggest proof of mental
greatness. be Hindu, but sympathize with the Muslim. Be atheist, but try and
understand when a Hijabi woman justifies her choice of clothing. I can keep on
picking out examples that illustrate my point to no end.
At one point in the film, a close up shot of a bra has been
censored. I very honestly want to put this up to the Censor Board of India:
why? Are female undergarments a matter of obscenity and vulgarity, so as to
invite censorship and suppression? Are we not nullifying whatever the movie
itself stands against, that is the demonizing and taboofication of female
sexuality? Fuck that, a bra is not even a sexual statement, it's just a bloody
piece of garment!
That, or maybe I'm overreacting. In that case, keep calm and
forget the film for what it stand and remember it only for Lisa Hayden's
cleavage-show. And those legs man, so hawt!
