Queen

Story:

Queen is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language 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. The film follows the story of Rani Mehra, a diffident Punjabi girl from New Delhi who embarks on her honeymoon to Paris and Amsterdam by herself after her fiancé calls off their wedding.

PLOT

Rani Mehra (Kangana Ranaut) is a 24-year-old sheltered, meek, yet good-natured Punjabi woman from Delhi. Two days before her wedding, her fiancé Vijay Dhingra (Rajkumar Rao) tells her that he no longer wishes to marry her. He explains that his lifestyle has changed after living abroad, and Rani’s conservative habits would be a wrong match for him. Stunned at the development, Rani shuts herself in her room for a day, recalling how she and Vijay met and fell in love. Wanting to control 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. Rani’s grandmother approves of her decision and assures her that sometimes, things like this occur for the better.
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 patronizing 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 attire to Vijay instead of Vijayalakshmi. Rani quickly realizes her mistake, but unbeknownst to her, the selfie revives Vijay’s interest in Rani and he decides to seek her out.

Eventually, the time comes for Rani to bid an emotional farewell to Vijayalakshmi and leave for Amsterdam. However, when she arrives in Amsterdam, Rani finds that her hostel room is being shared with three men: Taka from Japan, Tim from France, and Oleksander from Russia. Despite being skeptical, she soon becomes good friends with them and spends time shopping, sightseeing, visiting a sex shop, going to a church, and meeting pole dancers in a club. Rani befriends a pole dancer named Roxette/Rukhsar (Sabeeka Imam), a Pakistani girl who is the sole breadwinner for her family back in Lahore and is also a friend of Vijaylakshmi.

Rani slowly begins to gain confidence by taking control of her decisions. Realizing her earning potential, she wins a cook-off by selling gol gappas. After the cook-off event, the Italian host and restaurant owner, Marcello, shares an intimate moment with her and Rani experiences her first ‘Indo-Italian’ kiss with him. However, they choose to amicably part ways. 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 friends find Vijay waiting for Rani in front of the hostel. Vijay apologizes to Rani and asks her to reconsider their relationship. Their conversation escalates as he tries to grab hold of Rani, but her friends retaliate, and she asks him to leave. Rani decides to miss out on a concert with her friends to meet with Vijay and discuss their future. Vijay continues to judge Rani’s new friends and behavior, like drinking champagne and her choice of living with roommates of the opposite gender, and tells her that she doesn’t know foreigners. This causes her to leave abruptly, saying that she would rather speak to him after returning to Delhi. Rani then meets up with her friends one last time at the concert. After bidding a tearful farewell to them, she returns to India.

Back in Delhi, Rani visits Vijay at his home. Thinking she has decided to forgive him, he and his family start discussing wedding plans. Instead, Rani hands Vijay her engagement ring and says “thank you,” suggesting that he gave her the opportunity to explore the world and develop herself by rejecting her. She then walks away with a confident smile on her face.