'Poora India Thumakda' Queen - a movie review

Word of mouth is still the best form of advertisement and by all means, Queen (the movie recently released with stellar performance by Kangana Ranaut) is going to be a sleeper hit like Kaahaani and it should for all reasons.

I did not like the trailer of this movie when I saw it 6 months ago. This happens with quite a many films – their storyline and acting is superb; however the trailer doesn’t do any justice to the story. Thank god that I did not go by the trailer. I actually went to Inox to see it and I was bowled over by Kangana’s honest portrayal of a journey that transforms her from a demure coy clinging ivy type to a character full of spunk and spine. Journey to a foreign land after her marriage being called off which she calls her Honeymoon (without getting married) is a surprise itself and shows that the simple girl from Delhi is not going to take this uncalled for rejection lying down. Rani (Kangana) is the queen of heart of Vijay, the suave engineer who coaxed and cajoled ( Chinese ? Manchow ? Maan jao !....) Rani into a relation. Daughter of a halwai in Delhi was about to get married to the suave engineer.

However Rani gets a shock of her life when the Londoner Vijay rejects Rani or Queen two days before marriage. ‘A lot can happen over coffee’ and ironically rejection happened in a coffee shop whose tagline is ‘A lot can happen over coffee’. Reason is difference in social status. Rani obviously feels lost and betrayed and her hope of breaking the ‘Virginity ka vrat’ is dashed. But contrary to what other thinks she decided to go for the honeymoon which could have happened. From the moment she landed in Paris after being rejected by Vijay (played brilliantly by Rajkumar Rao), met voluptuous Vijayalakshmi ( the Mumbai girl Lisa Haydon is a big surprise ) who lives life on her own term and over whom Rani’s father and obese kid brother Chintu drools, the transformation of Rani begins. She drinks, dances in a disco and lets her hair loose. After Paris and a few days with Vijaylakshmi (Vijay nahi to vijaylakshmi sahi !) she is a liberated soul trying to break away from typical Indian customs that girls are tied to.

A visit to Amsterdam has even more surprise. She has to share a room with men which is unthinkable for her. However slowly she bonds with them and enjoys traveling with them. One Russian artist who wants to stop war over oil, one Japanese who lost his parents to Tsunami and one African origin Frenchman who sings with a guitar are her friends now. Enter the macho Italian chef who spurs an interest in Rani to be self reliant. She participates in a cooking competition and serves spicy Golguppas to foreigners who develop a liking for it. The Italian cajoles her to her first kiss. Just when things are looking up Vijay comes to Amsterdam and pleads for reconsideration of marriage. Rani, now a changed woman, politely refuses to give in. A brawl  between Rani’s friends and Vijay erupts which also exposes the tenderness that Alexander, the Russian harbors for rani. However, next day a transformed Rani places Vijay on the tenterhooks by offering a talk in Delhi. And leaving a surprised Vijay she goes for a rock concert with her new-found friends. The tenderest moment of this movie was when she pastes the marriage invitation card on the hotel room’s wall which is a wall full of treasured thoughts of the visitors. Taka her Japanese friend posts his parents’ photo, Alexander pastes his drawing. But I started crying when Kangana pasted her invitation card of a marriage that did not happen. It spoke a lot about her disappointment, her soul-stirring emotions, her frustrations. A marriage card is not a mere invitation card; it is an announcement of a fresh beginning, of a new phase of life.

In the end we see a bold Rani returning the ring to her fiancé and walking boldly into a new phase of life.

Queen is a movie that will make you feel good with superb storyline, brilliant comic timing and stellar acting. Kangana takes you to the path trodden by her and I identified with her feelings in many ways.And now with soaring popularity it seems that not only ‘London thumakda’ but ‘Poora India Thumakda’ with it.

Sedin Dujone by Pandit Ravi Shankar

There are some songs which I used to dislike. However with change of time and place sometimes I changed and now I like those songs immensely. One such song is “Sedin Dujone dulechinu bon e” by Tagore. I heard this many many times while in Kolkata. However I never quite liked it. I thought it was too mushy. In fact this song is an all time favorite romantic song for many. But my views changed until I heard last year Pandit Ravi Shankar playing it on sitar and singing it too in a London concert. I am thankful to the uploader of this following Youtube video. 

The music, the description by Pandit ji, the ambience….something influenced me heavily to like this song. Maybe the idea of “Forget me not” behind this song made me like it because every mortal like me want to be remembered by others. The melancholic strains urging to remind one of good times gone by appealed to me. There are 'n' number of versions of this song in Youtube now. However other than Pandit ji’s version, no version of this song made me sit and appreciate like this.