Queen

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When we were in school, we always asked each other "Yeh poem 'By-heart' kar liya?" It means "Have you memorised the poem?". Certain phrases stick to my mind forever and it transports me to my home in Jharia and my school at Dighwadih. If something was nice,  people said ' Solid hai". It could mean that thing is good quality, it has good references or if it is food it meant it was pure or unadulterated. It could also mean that the Woman being talked about is voluptuous. If a good looking woman passed by, the men on the road said " Aaj garmi badh gaya hai". This means that the heat has increased today. When I translate it in English, it definitely does not convey the feeling behind the words.

I felt  simplicity and experienced the language Hindi in the film 'Queen'. To make an extraordinary film on a character who is so ordinary, needs courage. The director never tried a glam look on Kangana and even did not add an item number. He just took the journey forward and showed the character's emotions. Kangana as Rani Mehra could not be more authentic. So many girls like that make up our country India. A girl who will listen to everyone in the family, teachers, friends and not do a thing wrong in her growing up years. Vikas Bahl the director has understood the girl's emotion and her 'small townness'. I could relate to Jharia and being exactly like that when I came to Mumbai and was living in the hostel. I was most comfortable speaking Hindi and to translate all that I wanted to convey to English , was an ardent task. The hostel was a quick teacher and I was a slow learner.  I did shed my 'small townness' but it took quite a while. I remember my speech in  English being more 'bookish' than 'spoken'. I never sounded natural while talking English. I would switch to Hindi and embarrass my friends in public.When I used to go to Jharia for my vacations, I used to want to practice my new learnt 'spoken English'. People thought I was showing off. In  the town I grew up in, speaking English and walking with your hips swinging, were both considered 'showing off'. I only got around to speaking English correctly.The final polish happened when I started working at The Oberoi.  Now I am struggling to teach my children the mother tongue or  all their mother tongues, I should  say. I want them to learn Gujarati, Kutchi and Marathi but they talk in English only. They are embarrassed if I switch to the mother tongue in public. The younger one conveys her displeasure verbally.

The music of the film is good especially the emotional songs. Lisa Haydon is so apt for the role. Actually all characters in her Rajouri house are good. Kangana wins all the way. Vikas Bahl and team must have already opened the bubbly.

Comments

  1. RupaMarch 9, 2014 at 12:59 PM

    Parul how I love your style of going to and fro between film character and your life. I was really touched by your struggle to learn English which is no longer treated as an optional language.
    I feel the way you write in English is because you are so grounded in Hindi or perhaps your mother tongue. Transfer of mother tongue to another language is an easy task. Unfortunately not the other way round

    ReplyDelete
  2. Parul KanseMarch 9, 2014 at 1:06 PM

    Thanks Rupa. Did not looknat it like that. A whole new perspective ke lite shukriya.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Parul KanseMarch 9, 2014 at 1:06 PM

    Thanks Rupa. Did not looknat it like that. A whole new perspective ke lite shukriya.

    ReplyDelete

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