ETimes Decoded: Why each Rani from Queen wants a Vijayalakshmi in actual life

In Vikas Bahl’s Queen (2013), when an element startled, half clueless Rani (Kangana Ranaut) meets (or quite hears) Vijayalakshmi (Lisa Haydon) for the primary time in Paris, the firebrand half French-half Indian single mom is busy having coitus within the subsequent room. She comes out for a smoke within the balcony shortly, nonchalantly telling Rani that she had actually 4 minutes to f****.A shocked Rani retires to her room, fully oblivious to the very fact that is the beginning of a lifelong friendship. As Vijayalakshmi retains telling her, ‘Vijay nahi hai toh kya hua, Vijayalakshmi to hai!‘ (so what there isn’t any Vijay, there may be Vijayalakshmi )

For starters, Rani and Vijayalakshmi couldn’t have been extra totally different from one another. Rani, because the society would conventionally label is a ‘good woman’, as she herself ( throughout her maiden drunken stupor) admits, “maine mummy daddy ki har baat maani hai. Aaj tak koi galat kaam nahi kiya.” (I’ve listened to every part mother dad informed me and have by no means finished something incorrect)
A easy middle-class woman from Rajouri in West Delhi, she stands as a benchmark for majority of Indian ladies and their goals – full your fundamental training, get married, procreate after which think about elevating your youngsters.

Vijayalakshmi alternatively, is brazen, brash and lives life on her personal phrases. Whether or not it’s proudly owning up her physique or citing a toddler on her personal, she makes her personal decisions, irrespective of how unconventional they could appear to the outer world. Initially a bit of bowled over, Rani quickly warms upto her, despite the fact that she doesn’t adhere to her lifestyle by a mile, which is totally okay. In contrast to a romantic relationship the place there must be some widespread floor, one of the best a part of friendship is that you may be as totally different as chalk and cheese and but, get alongside like a home on fireplace.
When Rani, heartbroken after being dumped by the narcissistic and misogynistic Vijay (Rajkummar Rao) on the eve of her wedding ceremony (good riddance as she would later realise) travels to Paris for her honeymoon alone, she encounters an inevitable cultural shock, together with an especially westernised life-style, shortage of vegetarian meals and the stark loneliness. After a few chilly, arid nights, she warms as much as town, even hilariously braving off a mugger, by holding on to her purse with such tenacity as if her life is determined by it! She meets the fiery Vijayalakshmi and the 2 stroll across the metropolis, get drunk and go on purchasing journeys, with Vijayalakshmi’s extrovertness (learn ‘lip to lip’ kisses with boys, as Rani says), being an ideal foil to Rani’s preliminary closeted character.
In contrast to most Bollywood capers, the film just isn’t centred round a girl’s affection for a person and besides just a few fleeting references of Vijay, the story purely focuses on Rani’s character graph going by means of a metamorphosis. Whereas not judging Vijayalakshmi at any level, Rani proudly hangs round along with her in her kurtis, even getting her pal to put on one after they bid goodbye on the station. From Vijayalakshmi, Rani learns to let go and have enjoyable, whilst Rani’s bemused household is shocked to see her skimpy apparel on a video name, with the spunky daadi commenting, “arre yahan to adult film chal rahi hai.” (An grownup movie is happening right here)
Alternatively, Rani brings a sure sense of stability to Vijayalakshmi’s in any other case chaotic life. On a day of proposed consuming revelry, Rani suggests doing one thing else and the 2 girls, removed from the hustle-bustle of town simply soak within the recent air, whereas admiring a fantastically lit up Eiffel Tower, with out saying a phrase to one another.
The truth that Vijayalakshmi is a single mom doesn’t cease her from having a life, a undeniable fact that Rani comes to understand. The truth is, when Vijayalakshmi asks Rani to hold a parcel to her pal Ruksar in Amsterdam, it seems that she is a pole dancer! Stumped, Rani nonetheless meets Ruksar lovingly, even innocently telling her that ‘ye kaam toh bahut mushkil hai‘ (that is such a tough job), earlier than giving her a heat hug, thus proving that girls simply have to be understood, with out worry of judgement and mock.

Over the course of the film, Rani encounters many ‘firsts’ – proper from travelling alone from Paris to Amsterdam to sharing the room with three boys, who initially sceptical about, she rapidly befriends, repeatedly calling the Russian one Sikander, despite the fact that his title is Oleksander. In contrast to Vijay, who always berated Rani for her need to work or simply have a voice of her personal, her new discovered pals give her the liberty and respect she actually deserves.
From her kurtis, Rani slowly transitions to lengthy, pastel flowy attire, a metaphor for coming of age for her, as she struts across the metropolis in boots, attending rock live shows and having the time of her life along with her pals. Nonetheless, Vikas makes it a degree to maintain Rani’s intrinsic character nonetheless intact and whereas she is elated to return to India carrying her trademark Kurti, one thing in her has modified, this time for the higher. In the long run, she with out a shred of awkwardness, goes to Vijay’s home and offers him a heat hug thanking him, leaving the repentant, now x fiance, ruing what he has misplaced.
You’ll be able to watch Queen on a number one OTT channel
ETimes Decoded is our weekly column the place we deconstruct motion pictures, characters or plots to uncover a recent, typically undiscovered perspective.