Queen Web Series Review
It looks like 2019 has been more far more huge for OTT platforms and its views than the Tamil cinema buffs. The year is ending on a bigger note with the greatest showpieces like ‘The Family Man’, ‘Inside Edge Season 2’ and finally ‘Queen’. So far MX Player has been middling player when it comes to Tamil regional panorama. The one featuring Mirchi Senthil and his wife Sreeja has already been a famous one on YouTube.
“Queen’ stands out to be a first of its kind and we would say, it’s a pioneer in Tamil web series that is made with a befittingly perfect format. So far, we have been watching the series that are made at shoestring budget with low quality and more than all, they are nothing but a Tele-film cut into different parts as 5-6 episodes. Thanks to MX Player for being a perfect player in breaking this stereotyped shows and bringing in an exact showpiece.
The web series is based on the book with same name and it is adapted-scripted by Reshma Ghatala. There are few episodes that are directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and others by Prasath of ‘Kidaari’ fame. Few more episodes are jointly directed by them.
Before few years, we’re sure you would have all come across a Malayalam movie titled ‘Celluloid’, which is based on J.C. Daniel, who is considered as ‘Father of Malayalam Cinema’. Now, we get to experience the same emotional adherence with the film’s protagonist ‘Shakthi Sheshaadri’. In the recent times, we have been coming across lots of namesake female centric films. but this one is the apt one to be labeled as such.
The strong characterization of Shakthi is being maintained constantly and thoroughly throughout the show. Be it Anikha, who is adamant about what she wanted or the beautiful 20s performed by Anjana, who tries to trigger GMR to check if he really loves her or Ramya Krishnan, who sits unbothered while a Hindi producer hands over his visiting card. Indrajith Sukumaran does a remarkable job and his entry itself gives Goosebumps. Is he a villain or hero or both? This keeps prevailing in our minds throughout the show.
A particular scene, where Shakthi thinks that she has achieved what she dreamt and now can make her estranged friend jealous, but gets disappointed. This scene accompanied by a dialogue – “What I thought is a milestone is just a hairpin bend for her†throws a huge impact.
Musical score by Darbuka Siva and cinematography by Kathir and Manikandan are the main pillars that gives an exact feeling of watch a real film on big screens rather than a web series.
On the whole, “Queen†is definitely the best ever web series made so far in the OTT platform. While Karthik Subbaraj’s Stone Bench ‘Kalla Sirippu’ and Balaji Mohan’s ‘As I am suffering from Kadhal’, were nothing but extended short films, Gautham Vasudev Menon and Prasath Murugesan set a new benchmark of how it should be.
