Queen (film)

Queen

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Vikas Bahl
Produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
Anurag Kashyap
Vikramaditya Motwane
Madhu Mantena
Written by Anvita Dutt Guptan (dialogue)
Kangana Ranaut (additional dialogue)
Screenplay by Vikas Bahl
Chaitally Parmar
Parveez Shaikh
Story by Vikas Bahl
Starring Kangana Ranaut
Rajkummar Rao
Lisa Haydon
Music by Amit Trivedi
Rupesh Kumar Ram
Cinematography Siddharth Diwan
Bobby Singh
Edited by Abhijit Kokate
Anurag Kashyap
Production
company
Distributed by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures
Release dates
  • October 2013 (2013-10) (Busan)
  • 7 March 2014 (2014-03-07)
Running time
 146 minutes[1]
Country India
Language Hindi
Budget ₹12.5 crore (US$1.9 million)[2]
Box office ₹108 crore (US$16 million)[3]

Queen is a 2014 Indian comedy-drama film directed by Vikas Bahl and produced by Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane, and Madhu Mantena. The film stars Kangana Ranaut in the lead role, with Lisa Haydon and Rajkummar Rao playing supporting roles.[4] Rani, an under-confident Punjabi girl from New Delhi embarks on her honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdam by herself after her fiancé calls off their wedding.[5][6]

Bahl co-wrote the script of Queen with Chaitally Parmar and Parveez Shaikh. Anvita Dutt Guptan wrote the dialogues for the film. Ranaut, who was encouraged by Bahl to improvise her lines during filming, is credited as an additional dialogue writer. Amit Trivedi provided the musical score and Guptan also wrote the lyrics. Principal photography of the film began in 2012 and took 45 days to complete.

Queen premiered at the Busan International Film Festival and released theatrically on 7 March 2014. The film garnered critical acclaim, with praise directed to the direction, writing, and Ranaut's performance. It is widely considered by critics to be one of the best films of 2014.[7][8][9][10] Made on a budget of ₹12.5 crore (US$1.9 million), the film earned over ₹108 crore (US$16 million) at the global box-office, emerging as a commercial success.[11] Queen won several awards. At the 60th Filmfare Awards ceremony, the film won a leading six awards, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress for Ranaut. At the 62nd National Film Awards ceremony, the film won the Best Hindi Film and Best Actress awards.

Plot

Rani Mehra is an under-confident young Punjabi woman from Delhi.[6] One day prior to her wedding, her fiancé Vijay (Rajkummar Rao) tells her that he no longer wishes to marry her. He explains that his lifestyle has changed after living abroad, and her conservative habits would be a wrong match for him. Stunned at the development, Rani shuts herself in her room for a day. Wanting to take control of the situation, she asks her parents permission to go alone on her pre-booked honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdam. After initially hesitating, her parents agree, thinking that a vacation might cheer her up.

In Paris, Rani meets Vijayalakshmi (Lisa Haydon), a free-spirited woman of French-Spanish-Indian descent, who works at the hotel in which Rani stays. Overwhelmed by the new city and having gotten into trouble twice - once with the local police and once with a robber - Rani intends to return to India. However, Vijayalakshmi helps her out and gives her a tour around the city. The two have a series of adventures, during which Rani relives the memories of Vijay patronising her and forbidding her from dancing and drinking - which she's free to do in Paris. During one particular incident, Rani tries on what she considers to be a revealing outfit and accidentally sends a selfie of her wearing the outfit to Vijay instead of Vijayalakshmi. She quickly realises her mistake, but unbeknownst to her, the selfie regenerates his interest in rani and then starts the frantic search for her.

Eventually, the time comes for her to bid an emotional farewell to Vijayalakshmi and board the train for Amsterdam. However, when she arrives in Amsterdam, she finds to her horror that her hostel room is being shared with three guys: Taka from Japan, Tim from France and Oleksander from Russia. Despite being skeptical of the boys, she soon becomes good friends with them, and spends time shopping, sight seeing, visiting a sex shop, going to a church and meeting pole dancers in a club. At the club, Rani befriends a pole dancer, Roxette/Rukhsar, a Pakistani girl who is the sole bread-earner for her family back in Lahore and who is also a friend of Vijaylakshmi.

Rani slowly begins to gain confidence by taking control of her decisions. She also realises her cooking potential by winning a cook-off by selling gol gappas (an Indian street snack). She learns more about her friends' backgrounds and begins to understand how different life can be for people in other parts of the world. One day, the four find Vijay waiting for Rani in front of the hostel. Vijay apologizes to Rani and asks her to reconsider the relationship. Their conversation escalates as he tries to grab hold of Rani, but her friends retaliate, and she asks him to leave. The two meet up the next day to discuss the future, but Rani leaves abruptly, saying that she would rather speak to him after she returns to Delhi. She then meets up with her friends one last time at a rock concert she had previously chosen not to attend. After bidding an emotional farewell to them, Rani returns to India.

Back in Delhi, Rani visits Vijay at his home. Vijay thinks that she has decided to forgive him. Instead, Rani hands him her engagement ring and after saying "thank you", she walks away with a charming smile on her face.

Cast

Production

Development

Producer-director Vikas Bahl made his directorial debut with Chillar Party (2011), co-directed with Nitish Tiwari, which won three National Film Awards. Since he liked the story of Queen, he decided to direct the film himself.[12] It was eventually produced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and Phantom Films, which he co-owns with Anurag Kashyap and Vikram Motwane.[13]

He wrote the script, the character of Rani was based on the people he had observed while growing up in Delhi. "I know life for girls is planned out for them by their families. They lose their own perspective on life and they are okay with that."[14] In a scenario where as a girl crosses 20, her family gets busy to get her "settled", she never plans anything by herself, unless as in this case of Rani, marriage plans go awry. Thus the script was developed so that in the "first half, Rani gets over the guy, and in the second, she gets over herself."[15] Bahl wrote the script of the movie keeping in mind Kangana Ranaut, however it was Anurag Basu who connected him with Kangana and helped cast her in the film.[16]

After her audition, actress Lisa Haydon, who played an Indo-French hotel staff member, Vijaylaksmi, practiced French for a month. Other actors Mish Boyko (Alexander) and Jeffery Ho (Taka) were cast after auditions in London, while Joseph Guitobh (Tim), who played Rani's third roommate, was spotted singing on a street and was asked whether he'd be interested in working in Hindi film, though he couldn't speak English.[14]

Filming

The film was shot in late 2012 over a period of 45 days, starting with Paris, followed by Amsterdam and Delhi.[14] Despite shooting abroad, Vikas Bahl did not have a huge budget to spend on the film. He took a crew of 25 people from India to shoot the film in about 145 locations in 40 days. Locations were booked a couple of hours, before the crew would rush to another location as they often shot 3-4 locations in a day. The crew would eat their meals at nearby restaurants, and at times actors including lead Kangana Ranaut would change clothes in nearby public toilets and restaurants.[12][17] Since the film was not shot in a linear fashion, the colour of mehndi, applied to bride's hand was faded to match its natural fading.[14] During the filming upon Ranaut's suggestion some scenes were added, like the kiss scene with the Italian chef, and a small scene where Rani asks a stranger to click her picture in Amsterdam.[14] She even ended up writing a lot of her dialogues, and was given credit for the additional dialogues. In fact during filming, the director allowed all the actors to improvise their dialogues, to add realism to the film.[12][15]

The remixed version of "Hungama Ho Gaya" was shot at Club NL, in Amsterdam, where a Hindi song was played for the first time.[18][19]

However, when 90 percent of the film was already shot, film's cinematographer Bobby Singh died suddenly following an asthma attack on 25 December 2012, after just having completed a schedule in Delhi.[20][21] After seeing rushes of the film, Anurag Kashyap volunteered to edit the film himself and since Bahl didn't have any editors at the time, he too agreed.[12]

Marketing

The trailer of the film was released on 20 December 2013.[22]

Soundtrack

Main article: Queen (soundtrack)

The film's soundtrack is composed by Amit Trivedi, with lyrics by Anvita Dutt.[23] The Music of Queen was launched at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival, Mumbai on 2 February 2014.[24] An additional track was released on 1 March, it was the remixed version of hit cabaret number of the 1970s Hungama Ho Gaya sung by Asha Bhosle for the film, Anhonee (1973) was remixed by Amit Trivedi for the film, with additional vocals by Arijit Singh. The song was also used in end credits of the film.[18][19][25]

Reception

Critical reception

Ranaut's performance in the film Queen was highly acclaimed by the critics

Queen, as well as Ranaut's performance, won acclaim from critics.[26] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film 4/5 stars and called the film "spicy, balmy and uplifting" and added, "Kangana is the heart and soul of Queen and she does not strike a single false note".[27] Raja Sen from Rediff also awarded the film 4/5 stars and called Kangana "gobstoppingly spectacular", adding that the film is "a showcase for an actress poised to reign".[28] Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN gave the film 4/5 stars calling it "rare and disarming" and described Kangana's performance as "raw, nuanced, delicately comical".[29] Anupama Chopra praised Kangana's performance, hailing it as "artfully transparent and heartfelt", but said the film is "meandering and indulgent" at places, rating it 3.5/5 stars.[30] Sarita Tanwar from Daily News and Analysis awarded the film 4.5/5 stars and said, "Queen is irresistible. Highly recommended. A must-see film. You will leave the theatre with your heart humming happily."[31] Saurabh Dwivedi from India Today also gave the film 4.5/5 stars and said the film is "amazing" and "a brilliant package".[32] Deepanjana Pal from Firstpost has quoted "Kangana Ranaut is pitch perfect in Queen".[33] Queen made a mark with its sincerity and simplicity, posted Zee News.[34]

Box office

Queen debuted with relatively low collections and grossed ₹20 million (US$300,000) on the first day, grossing ₹33.5 million (US$500,000) on the second day, and ₹43 million (US$640,000) on the third day, taking the first weekend's collection to ₹95 million (US$1.4 million).[35] Despite a poor start, Queen held up well in the first weekdays and grossed around ₹25 million (US$370,000) per day during the week and ended the first week with ₹180 million (US$2.7 million).[36] On its second Monday it grossed ₹30 million (US$450,000), coinciding with a holiday in India.[37] Queen had higher collection in the second week than the first week, collecting ₹390 million (US$5.8 million) in two weeks.[38][39] The movie had a massive growth by far in 2014 for the third week collection by ₹115 million (US$1.7 million), which totals the third week collection to ₹505 million (US$7.5 million).[40] In the fourth week, the film managed a promising ₹65 million (US$970,000), which is the 11th highest gross of all time in the history of Hindi cinema for the fourth week. The final domestic collection was just above ₹600 million (US$8.9 million).[41][42]

In overseas market, Queen collected ₹67.5 million (US$1.0 million) in United States, ₹12.3 million (US$180,000) in Canada and ₹18.6 million (US$280,000) in United Kingdom in five weeks, totalling around ₹125.3 million (US$1.9 million) in all overseas market.[43][44] The movie earned over ₹1,080 million (US$16 million) worldwide by the end of its eighth week.[3]

Awards and nominations

At the 62nd National Film Awards, the film won the awards for Best Hindi Film and Best Actress for Ranaut.[45][46] At the 60th Filmfare Awards ceremony, Queen won a leading six awards out of a leading 13 nominations: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress for Ranaut, Best Background Score for Amit Trivedi, Best Cinematography and Best Editing.[47] At the 2015 Screen Awards ceremony, Queen received 13 nominations, the most for any film at the ceremony, and won the awards for Best Film, Best Director and Best Cinematography.[48][49] Other nominations included Best Actress for Ranaut, and Best Supporting Actress for Haydon.[49] At the 2015 Star Guild Awards, the film won the awards for Best Director, Best Story, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing.[50] Queen also won the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actress for Ranaut at the Stardust Awards ceremony.[51] At the 16th IIFA Awards ceremony, Queen received five nominations: Best Movie, Best Director, Best Actress for Ranaut, Best Supporting Actress for Haydon, and Best Story[52] and won five awards, best actress for Ranaut, best movie, best story, best screenplay and best editing.

References

  1. ↑ "QUEEN (12A) - British Board of Film Classification". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  2. ↑ Srivastava, Priyanka (4 April 2013). "Weekend Entertainment: Why small budget films are making a mark in Bollywood". Daily Mail. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  3. 1 2 "Top Worldwide Grossers All Time". Box Office India. Archived from the original on 19 September 2015. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "I'm overwhelmed: Raj Kumar". MiD DAY. 13 May 2013. Retrieved 13 May 2013.
  5. ↑ "Bursting with creativity". MiD DAY. 21 March 2014. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  6. 1 2 http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/queen-review-kangana-ranaut-is-the-queen-of-hearts/
  7. ↑ "Queen to Highway: The 5 most loved films of 2014". India Today. 5 January 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  8. ↑ Mihir Fadnavis (31 December 2014). "Top 10 Bollywood films of 2014: Queen, Dedh Ishqiya, Aankhon Dekhi and more". First post. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  9. ↑ "Top 5 Films 2014-Anupama Chopra". YouTube. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  10. ↑ "Rajeev Masand's HITS & PITS 2014". YouTube. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  11. ↑ "Last ten years March totals - March 2014 tops 150 crore". Box Office India.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Chaudhuri, Mohini (26 January 2014). "The making of Queen". Business Line. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  13. ↑ "Vikas Bahl's Queen is about a naïve Delhi girl". The Times of India. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 4 5 "Kangana Ranaut's Queen benefited from positive word-of-mouth: Director". The Indian Express. 21 March 2014. pp. 1–2. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  15. 1 2 Ankur Pathak (21 March 2014). "Queen and I". Mumbai Mirror. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "How did Vikas Bahl convince Kangana Ranuat for Queen?". Bollywoodlife.com. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  17. ↑ "How Vikas Bahl shot Kangana's 'Queen' on a shoe-string budget". The Indian Express. 30 January 2014.
  18. 1 2 "'Hungama Ho Gaya' shakes Amsterdam". Planet Bollywood News. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  19. 1 2 "Queen creates hungama in Amsterdam". The Times of India. 1 March 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  20. ↑ "Anurag Basu stunned by cinematographer Bobby Singh's death". The Times of India. 27 December 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  21. ↑ "Cinematographer Bobby Singh passes away". The Indian Express. 27 December 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  22. ↑ "Trailer out: Kangana Ranaut could be the next Queen of Bollywood!". Hindustan Times. 22 December 2013.
  23. ↑ "London Thumakda Lyrics". Song2Lyrics.
  24. ↑ "Music of Queen to be launched on February 2 at Kala Ghoda Arts Festival". Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  25. ↑ "Queen song Hungama: Kangana Ranaut creates hungama with her killer moves!". India.com. 27 February 2014. Retrieved 22 March 2014.
  26. ↑ Mehta, Ankita (6 March 2014). "'Queen' Review Roundup: Watch it for Kangana's Superb Performance". International Business Times. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  27. ↑ Saibal Chatterjee. "Queen movie review". NDTV.
  28. ↑ Raja Sen. "Review: Kangana rules in queen". Rediff.
  29. ↑ Rajeev Masand. "'Queen' review: Rare, disarming film that has you smiling throughout". CNN-IBN.
  30. ↑ Anupama Chopra. "The front row review of Queen".
  31. ↑ Sarita Tanwar. "Film review: 'Queen' is irresistible, a must-see film". Daily News and Analysis.
  32. ↑ Saurabh Dwivedi. "Movie review: Queen is a must-watch". India Today.
  33. ↑ Pal, Deepanjana. "Queen review: Kangana Ranaut is pitch perfect in a fabulous film". Firstpost. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
  34. ↑ http://zeenews.india.com/exclusive/women-rock-box-office_1464895.html
  35. ↑ "Queen first weekend box office details". Box Office India. 10 March 2014.
  36. ↑ "Queen Low First Week But Set For Strong Second Week". Box Office India. 14 March 2014.
  37. ↑ boxoffice. "Queen Marches On - Second Week May Top First Week". Box Office India Trade Network. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  38. ↑ "Queen Second Week Similar To First Week". Box Office India. 21 March 2014.
  39. ↑ "Queen Goes Up - First Week V Second Week Comparison". Box Office India. 24 March 2014.
  40. ↑ "Queen Crosses 50 Crore In Three Weeks". Box Office India. Retrieved 5 April 2014.
  41. ↑ "Queen Closes In On 60 Crore". Box Office India. 11 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2014.
  42. ↑ "2 States Has Excellent Initial At Multiplexes Bhoothnath Returns Drops Midweek". 19 April 2014. Retrieved 9 May 2014.
  43. ↑ "'Main Tera Hero' underperforms, 'Queen' continues to rule!". Bollywood Hungama. 9 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  44. ↑ "Queen Thirty Three Days Worldwide Box Office Collection :Slows Down". 9 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  45. ↑ "62nd National Film Awards for 2014 (Press Release)" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. February 24, 2015. Retrieved 2015-03-25.
  46. ↑ "62nd National Film Awards' winners: 'Haider' wins five, Kangana Ranaut's 'Queen' two". The Indian Express. 24 March 2015. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  47. ↑ "60th Britannia Filmfare Awards 2014: Complete list of winners". The Times of India. 31 January 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  48. ↑ Sharma, Sarika (14 January 2015). "Highlights: 21st Life OK Screen Awards: Shahid Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra win Best Actor, 'Queen' Best Film". The Indian Express. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  49. 1 2 "21st Annual Life OK Screen Awards nominations". The Indian Express. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
  50. ↑ "Winners of 10th Renault Star Guild Awards". Bollywood Hungama. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  51. ↑ "Winners of Stardust Awards 2014". Bollywood Hungama. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  52. ↑ "'2 States', 'Haider' lead IIFA 2015 nominations, Aamir and SRK pitted for best actor". Daily News and Analysis. 14 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
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