This past week I was sitting in my dorm living room on a Thursday night. I knew I needed to study; the stress of two exams on Monday and Tuesday was dangerously crawling on the surface of my thoughts, but realistically, my brain was not focused on anything school related. So naturally, the next best option was to watch a movie instead. I haven't been keeping up with many movies since college keeps me busy 24/7, so I wasn't sure what to watch at first. As I was browsing Netflix's new sappy romantic comedies, my roommate suggested this movie called "Queen." I put the title into the search engine and out popped an image of a young Indian woman with one arm in the air surrounded by colorful, bokeh lights. I was hesitant because at first glance it did look pretty sappy to me, but then again, I had been on a hunt for a sappy movie only moments earlier. "What the hell," I decided and put on the movie and cuddled on the floor with my roommates.
Boy... did I enjoy the movie or what.
I was fully expecting this movie to be the utmost typical romantic comedy. I expected a boy meets girl situation, numerous obstacles in the couple's way, such as other love interests, a break-up, a one-sided attraction at first or any of the above, but what I got wasn't that. It had more richness and depth of human character and change than the typical romantic comedy or "find yourself" identity crisis movie. It was also striking to note that on the day I watched this movie I was having a simple, yet rare, good day. You know, when everything is going well for some odd reason. You dress up nicely and the sun actually comes out of the clouds. All those small details of the world are appreciated and somehow working in sync. You get a good grade on a test and this really cute guy smiles at you, and it's pretty insignificant to others, but not to you. This movie somehow had the power to wrap up my already perfectly functioning day nicely.
Queen is a movie for those types of good days. The premise follows an innocent, sweet-natured Indian girl (Rani) who falls head over heels for a guy (Vijay). The happy couple is engaged to be married when he tells her suddenly that he can't marry her, and he's "changed." He's not the guy Rani fell in love with and now she serves as the shackles that keep him from experiencing all that life has to offer. Rani is devastated. She wishes he'll change his mind and realize he made a mistake, but she knew after some time it wasn't going to happen. She soon decides instead to venture alone on her pre-paid honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdam despite her parents' disapproval. She packs her bag and heads for Paris, where the movie takes on a more humorous and light tinge. In one scene, viewers see Rani sitting in her hotel room when she suddenly hears for the first time explicit sounds from the room next door. She is confused and scared, and I laughed because who hasn't experienced that sheer degree awkwardness at-least once in their lives? She soon finds that the sounds came from a woman she eventually befriends. The two girls soon become fast friends, opposite forces of sexy and wild and beautiful and tame mixing together. Rani experiences her first time drunk, her first time dancing in a club, her first time letting loose and enjoying herself. She starts to see parts of the woman she was but never realized when she was with Vijay, such as her goofy character, innocent charm and ability to shake her hips – qualities she always possessed yet suppressed in order to impress who she thought was her love.
Soon after Paris, Rani leaves for Amsterdam leaving her new friend with an even newer sense of identity. She ends up in an Amsterdam hostel with three guys who all have had troubled pasts and hardships. None of them can communicate in English, and we see Rani talking in Hindi to her Asian friend who can only simply nod and use broken English phrases. Yet, the friendships Rani creates with these men break the barriers of spoken language. Subtle body language, laughter and spending time with each other are what spark Rani and the boys' friendships. We see Rani smile after her heart is broken into a million pieces because her new friends encourage her to cook with a local chef. We see Rani hug her friend after learning that he lost both his parents in a natural disaster. Hell, she takes a risk and kisses the local chef – something she never would have dreamed doing from the look of surprise and utmost satisfaction on her face. She didn't know what was out there in the world because she was always used to doing the "comfortable" things she was raised to know. Even when Vijay tries to win her back, predictably at the end of the movie, she struggles to make the right decision in light of her new friends and new feelings. Although she knows she has to leave her friends since Amsterdam was a passing memory, she decides to let Vijay, her past, go, as well. She doesn't end up with one of the three guys in the hostel despite the clear sexual attraction between the two of them. She doesn't end up with Vijay, the former love of her life. It's just Rani learning the world in a different light. Not everything is about love or finding the special person and getting married and impressing everyone around her. It's just simply finding a new path to take, one that's circular and zig-zag, not linear and straight-forward.
Although I had gone in watching the movie with every intention to just sit back and relax, the movie truly made me think. It put a lot of things in perspective for me. It made me look at the friends I have now and be grateful I could make those friends given my circumstance and settings. I have those moments I share with them, just like Rani did with her friends in Paris and Amsterdam. There's more to life than just falling for the wrong guy and making him everything that is my world, even though that is very possible to happen, given the nature of love. Life is just about living it, making mistakes and not having a clear, linear path to anything. That's why I highly recommend this movie – if you're feeling a feel good movie that makes you think.
