Queen. Kickass all the way!

Kangna Ranaut is kickass. That was the first thing that occurred to me when Queen got over. What acting… Just kickass.

I saw Queen last night. And I went to sleep with a smile…

I think it’s appropriate when I say that the movies we watch have set our expectations for love. That’s the first place we have ever seen a boy and girl fall in love. It has been our haven when we had our 1^st crush. We have always wanted our love story to be as sweet and romantic as those on-screen. These movies have managed to convince us, that only when you find your love, your soul mate, life is meaningful. These movies that we watch have always only glorified love. And if there ever is a heartbreak, it always ends in a happily ever after that has the hero back with the heroine, or with the protagonist finding love in another person. Not that it is wrong, and that is probably the way of life too, but has any movie ever shown us that it is okay, if not great to be alone? That it is okay to find solace in oneself…and not crib about not having a partner to end the day with?

Enter Queen!

We have seen a LOT of movies that tells the guy it is okay to move on – from yesteryear’s “Kamban yemandhan”, and “Oru doctor ponnu no sonna, nurse ponnakaadhali” to today’s “Machi, indha ponnungle ipdi dhan da”*, it is always the guy who meets with the heartbreak and who is advised to move on. What about us girls? We meet some assholes** too. It was like a breath of fresh air to watch an Indian movie that said, “Vijay nahi hai toh kya? Lakshmi toh hai” TO A GIRL.

Yes, it’s a tribute to every girl who got dumped by an asshole boyfriend for no reason. It’s a lesson to every guy who gives lame excuses like, “I’ve changed/you have changed. This won’t work. We can still be friends” to break up with a girl, just so he can have his peace of mind when he goes to sleep. It’s also a lesson to every girl who thinks she doesn’t have a life apart from her boyfriend.

Anyway, talking about the movie as such, the whole movie was carried on by Kangna on her shoulders and boy, has she carried it off. The way Rani, the timid and innocent girl from Rijoli takes on the world alone is so awe-inspiring. We feel sorry for her, we cry with her, we laugh at her ramblings when she gets drunk, but through most of the movie, we cheer for her when she sheds her thoughts about Vijay behind and decides that she has a life of her own too. There were a lot of notable scenes in which the movie has so subtly documented the girl’s process of letting go and realizing that it is okay to stop missing the person, to stop crying for a guy who is not worth it and to start living. The transition is so fluid…so natural.

In any other film, you might have seen a potential new love character as the knight in shining armour to save Rani when her handbag is about to be stolen in a foreign country. But no, as it would happen to most girls in real life, no one turns up! Rani holds on to the bag for life and screams until he lets go. Though the incident scares her at first, she later feels good about fighting him off herself. Also, the friendships that Rani makes on the way is also not shown to be permanent or “for life” as most movies depict. As it happens in real life, we make friends as we enter new phases of our lives, they become an important part of our life but we also do not stop right there. Life goes on… and it is okay.

There were a lot of scenes that were subtle, but significant. For instance, the one in which she remembers how Vijay got pissed with her for dancing in public. I think I speak for every girl who watched the movie, when I say we cheered for Rani when she starts dancing in the club with renewed conviction when she suddenly remembers that incident. I think the best scene for me was when she hugs Vijay in the end and says “Thank you” and she means it.Personally I think that’s the best slap-in-the-face moment for such a guy.

The movie does not end with the entry of a new love interest. Yes, she would probably find someone eventually but that’s not what the story is about. It does have a happily ever after but that happily ever after does not depend on any other person. This movie is only about Rani, and her changing perspective of life.

The best part about the film is, it doesn’t judge. It doesn’t give any verdict about who or what is right. It purely narrates Rani’s story, and leaves it to the audience to their respective takeaways from the movie.

As a story and as a movie this has struck all the right chords. Without a duet, without a love interest, without a hero, this movie has managed to entertain, and Kangna is one of the main reasons for that. In today’s cinema, where most heroines are portrayed to be mere brainless love interests for the hero, it was so good to watch a movie that portrayed a girl, with a mind of her own. Yeah there is no male lead but we don’t miss his presence, and that statement coming from a female viewer is definitely something. ;)

*- Famous Tamil slang dialogs that mean to say, girls have the tendency to break hearts and so it’s better to move on.

**- I swear I tried my best, but I could not find a more appropriate word than asshole to fit the context.