Review of Queen, directed by Vikas Bahl

My sophomore year of college, a friend no longer a friend and I decided to randomly take a Bollywood class. Neither of us had an experience with Bollywood movies before this moment, and we had no idea what to expect.

Turns out it was a class about the politics of India, so not only were we watching Bollywood movies, but we were analyzing the sociopolitical conditions of the India is was depicting within them. Now that’s a wild time.

That said, I was thinking about Queen years later and decided to revisit it.

I think what spurred this was that I was writing for MovieWeb, who I do film reviews as a critic and lists for professionally, and I was trying to do the research for what films did well in the United States.

I looked up Queen quickly because it had that international element, and while it did not make that list, it certainly captured my heart all those years ago.

Let’s get into the review, shall we?

After being dumped by her fiancé, Rani decides to go on her honeymoon by herself.

The main character in Queen is Rani (hence the English title: Rani literally just means Queen), and she’s 24 and about to get married to Vijay.

But two days before the wedding, he breaks up with her, citing lifestyle differences. She’s too meek, timid, and conservative for him, hence why it would never work.

Rani is shocked by this, but then convinces her parents that she needs to still go on their honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdam without anyone else. Although they’re hesitant, they agree, and Rani packs her bags and heads off to Europe.

In Paris, she meets the vibrant Vijayalakshmi, who shows her around the city. Rani doesn’t know what to do with herself when she arrives in Paris originally, as she’s used to India and can’t function by herself.

With Vijayalakshmi, the two go on many adventures, and Rani learns to get over bit by bit her memories of Vijay. At one point, she accidentally sends him a picture of her in revealing clothing, and he decides to come find her and revive their relationship.

Rani is preparing to go to Amsterdam next, and Vijayalakshmi leaves her behind at the train station. Rani arrives at her hostel and realizes she’s sharing a room with three men, one from Japan, France, and Russia. Although this makes her uncomfortable at first, she befriends them and they become good friends.

The group goes through the streets of the city together, shopping and making memories as best buddies. Rani also makes friends with a Pakistani pole dancer who knows Vijayalakshmi, then becomes inspired to enter a cook-off and sell Indian food.

There, she meets an Italian man who kisses her, pushing her boundaries even more, and realizes that life is different all over the world.

But when Vijay shows up for her at the hostel and begs for forgiveness, he grabs her and her new friends react immediately. Rani skips a concert with her friends to chat with Vijay, who nags her for her new lifestyle choices, and she tells him to go away and leaves for the concert.

After saying goodbye to her friends, she goes back to India.

She meets with Vijay, whose family thinks she’s coming for wedding plans.

As they start going on about that, Rani gives the engagement ring back and thanks him, as it gave her the opportunity to see the world and become more confident. The movie ends with her walking away, smiling.

Overall Thoughts

It’s a cute movie, although some of the stereotypes presented in it are a tad harmful—I remember being horrified at the depiction of the Japanese character because of how stereotypical it was originally, and rewatching I began thinking that again.

I think there’s such a good message behind the movie though, and it’s a lot of fun to watch. Go watch this movie if you haven’t already! It’s the perfect pick me up sometimes.

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