Notes on Queen or Why the fuck was the bra censored

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!