Kangana Ranut and Vikas Bahl’s Queen The Most Empowering Film On Female Power

On Mar 6, 2024

Updated Mar 7, 2024, 09:22 AM IST

Vikas Bahl and Kangana Ranaut’s groundbreaking film Queen celebrates its 10th anniversary on March 7. Amidst forgettable ventures like Rajjo and Revolver Rani, Kangana soared to superstardom with her portrayal of a jilted bride on a solo honeymoon. Her performance resonated divinely, marking Queen as her defining moment, akin to Arth for Shabana Azmi.

Queen: The Most Empowering Film On Female Power Had To Face This Dilemma

Vikas Bahl and Kangana Ranaut’s pathbreaking Queen turns 10 on March 7. During the year of highly forgettable Rajjo, and the frightfully campy Revolver Rani, Kangana sprang into superstardom in Vikas Bahl’s Queen. As the bride-to-be ditched at the altar who goes on her honeymoon solo Kangana sailed through the role of the clumsy hero with the self-assurance of a diva. Queen was to Kangana what Arth was to Shabana Azmi.

Turning-point would be an understatement.

But before release, Queen faced a very embarrassing moment of, shall we say, reckoning. From burning to blurring the bra??? Female empowerment seemed to have come a full circle in Filmistan. On the eve of Women’s Day the eminently watchable film on girl power deserves a revisitation, especially the sequence wherein, in a naughty chicks-sharing-vibes-in-restroom scene between Kangana Ranaut and Lisa Haydon it is suggested that the latter removes her brassiere to prepare for a night of fun.

When the camera moves towards the delicate apparel the shot goes blurred in the audiences’ faces.

Yup, the Indian censor board, in all its wisdom, decides to blur the shot showing a closeup of the bra.

Victorian prudery at a time when cinema the worldover including in India, was growing up fast?

The film’s co-producer Madhu Mantena was quite stunned. “When we were asked to blur the lingerie shot we were dumbfounded. Bras have been a part of Indian cinema from the time one fell out of Kajol’s suitcase in Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge while Shah Rukh Khan smirked. Here in Queen the shot wasn’t even suggestive or giggly. It was just a piece of clothing that Kangana hurriedly stuffs into her purse. What was the big deal?”

Cut to Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani nine years later in 2023 where the ‘bra’ -mance acquired a renewed resonance when Ranveer Singh goes lingerie shopping with his future mother-in-law (played by Churni Ganguly). The prolonged sequence sailed passed the censor board. All they asked for was for the number of times the word ‘bra’ was used on screen, be reduced.