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‘Queen’ review: Ramya Krishnan shines in this story let down by its glacial pace

For the average person from Tamil Nadu, the name ‘Jayalalithaa’ conjures up strong feelings ranging from that of a decisive, bold woman who broke the glass ceiling in a nasty man’s world despite the odds to a vindictive, unforgiving leader who intimidated critics. While the reputation of the late Chief Minister is hotly contested, the factors that shaped the larger-than-life personality largely remains an enigma. Which is why Queen, the MX Player web series directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and co-directed by Prasath Murugesan takes on the interesting premise of a woman who rose to unimaginable heights and yet remained a mystery to the thousands on whom she ultimately left an indelible impact. 

The show, while inspired by true events, gives you the standard disclaimer of being a fictional retelling with creative visualisation to boot. So while the landscape of the web series is populated by characters and events that your mind will acknowledge at once, the show itself is based on Anita Sivakumaran’s book The Queen.

The story is centered around the seminal interview between Shakti Seshadri (Ramya Krishnan), the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and Lillete (Lillete Dubey), a television interviewer. The two women, who talk on and off camera, are engaged in a free-wheeling chat where the interviewer has seemingly persuaded her subject— one who is fiercely protective of her privacy— into reflecting on her entire, troubled life, being philosophical and candid all at once. While one may try to look past the suddenness of the premise, the conversation takes a preachy tone, full of spiritual declarations on life. The meandering, TED-talk-esque writing by Reshma Ghatala is sometimes frustrating. Ramya Krishnan sparkles with her screen presence as a woman hardened by the quest for meaningful relationships. The seasoned actress lives through a dizzying range of emotions in the climax. However, the portrayal of Shakti is rather subdued for the powerhouse actor who is known for her solid performances.

The dialogues are not period-appropriate for the 70s and 80s (also, did Indian political leaders give each other the finger back in the day?) and feel forced for much of the show.

Anikha wonderfully slips into the role of a young Shakti, a diligent convent student whose dreams are brought to an abrupt end. Unprepared for the vagaries of a celebrity life, the actor’s portrayal of a child hoping to get love by giving love is laudable. Sonia Agarwal, who plays Shakti’s mother Ranganayaki is grossly underutilised by Gautham Menon and other directors. The toxic relationship between mother and daughter, an important enough propeller for Shakti’s quest to find love, had a lot of potential.

The story progresses at a painfully slow pace after this point (seriously, why do characters speak with a zen-like calmness even when they are mid angry fight? How many tracking shots are needed to make a simple point?). The largest chunk of the series centers around the acting years of Shakti where she meets her first love and the man who changed everything— GMR (yeah, we know). GMR (Indrajith Sukumaran) is a married man who unabashedly seeks to exercise full control over every aspect of Shakti’s life, traumatising her. The series squanders the opportunity to present the consequences of this abuse and power imbalance, and maybe the makers kept away from treading any further on it as it would have invited trouble from the state. Indrajith plays the film star convincingly, but it is hard to buy him as a nuanced politician, who by the way is popular despite having no original ideas and relies on his team for almost everything.

The best part of the series is the portrayal of the relationship between Shakti (Anjana), the actor and Chaitanya Reddy (Vamsi Krishna), her Telugu film director. But this comes as no surprise for Gautham Menon happily allows the couple their intimate cooking adventures, old fashioned dinner parties and visits to a vegetable market to show the budding romance.

While the show doesn't make any meaningful commentary on Dravidian politics where the events unfold, it spends enough time in presenting Brahmin victimhood even as Dravidian leaders question why a Brahmin should lead their Dravidian party. By contrast, it papers over the social capital that put a child from a nearly bankrupt family into a prestigious convent school in Chennai. 

The 11-episode web series primarily disappoints with its glacial pace and poor screenplay. Too many contradictions are apparent even to the casual viewer (like a cash-strapped family goes on holiday to find itself). Also, ‘Veezhven endru ninaithayo?’ is officially overused in Tamil cinema. There, I said it. Sorry, Bharathiyar.

The show is yet another reminder that however pleasant and intense a background score (Darbuka Siva) maybe, it cannot fix an unwieldy, contradictory plot. 

A life story that is already in the popular imagination needs the sharp drama of film to elevate it, even if it is loyally hagiographical. But Queen is so slow-paced, you wonder why the time wasn’t better utilised in building the multiple characters who become the sounding board for the protagonist. And that is when you realise that while the show comes with the disclaimer that it is not based on real events, it dishonestly relies on the audience’s familiarity with characters to further their presence in the story.

Rather than a factual retelling, much of the show is based on the anecdotal tales that have done the rounds of Tamil Nadu's political and film circles for decades and are now the overpowering ghosts in the biographical narratives about these leaders.

Disclaimer: This review was not paid for or commissioned by anyone associated with the series/film. TNM Editorial is independent of any business relationship the organisation may have with producers or any other members of its cast or crew.

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Queen Review: Ramya Krishnan’s Hard Nod To The Life of Jayalalithaa Is Calm, Quiet, and Listless

Director: Gautam Vasudev Menon & Prasath Murugesan Writer & Creator: Reshma Ghattala Cast: Ramya Krishnan , Anikha, Anjana, Indrajith Sukumaran, Vamsi Krishna, Lillete Dubey, Sonia Agarwal, Tulasi Streaming Platform : MX Player

When Pauline Kael, a noted New Yorker film critic, was asked about the lack of good American films about the Vietnam War, (movies about its violence and meaninglessness) she calmly replied that she was waiting for the war to get over. Good political films always have a calm, collected retrospective gaze.

Nuance be damned, I want to vicariously experience justice.

But the rotten political times we live in, where propaganda films are being churned out recklessly, (A film on the Balakot Airstrike has just been announced, Bhushan Kumar, who is producing the movie, in his Twitter announcement tagged the Prime Minister himself.) I wonder if "good" political films need to be more fiery, more reactionary. Nuance be damned, I want to vicariously experience justice. Queen, the Tamil web-series on MX Player (11 episodes, about 50 minutes each) sits oddly with this expectation. 

I have a lot of issues with this series, but don't mistake my discussion of its flaws as my dislike for the show. It is my intense admiration for what the show is trying to do (depict a life without deifying it) that makes me angry about the things they could have (quite easily) done to make it a more effective, sumptuous, and moving experience. 

Based on Anita Sivakumaran's book "The Queen", which itself springs from the life of late Tamil Nadu politician Jayalalithaa, the web-series has the cool retrospective gaze that Kael alluded to in her interview. Look at the structure itself, of Lillete Dubey interviewing Shakthi Seshadri (Ramya Krishnan in a questionably passive, philosophical, and arresting performance). Dubey asks her questions about her life, and the whole series plays out as visuals born out of this catechism. Imagine you being deeply angry in a moment, and then thinking about this moment of anger years later. The fiery pulse died when you got over your anger, all you have is a memory which you can only articulate with the knowledge you have gained since. 

For me, and for this story, this calmness didn't work. (Even when Shakthi is giving campaign speeches, it is too muted. There is heist movie music in the background which doesn't work. This is perhaps how Jayalalithaa spoke in election rallies, but when you have taken so many creative liberties, why not this one too?) Shakthi has lived a life of great drama, great affairs, and great grief, all of which lend themselves to the medium of cinema effortlessly. But instead, the writer and directors decide to make her philosophical about it, with long passages about the internal anguishes, and the structural impediments to success and happiness- the vice of over-articulation, something Gautham Menon, the co-director, has been accused of on many occasions.  (Oddly, moments where she wasn't even present are narrated by her later; alluding to her omnipresence or a plothole – it's up to you.)

Also Read: The Debate Over Dhanush's Voiceovers In Gautham Vasudev Menon's 'Enai Noki Paayum Thota'

The line of Dubey's questioning starts with her youth (young Shakthi played with endearing heft by Anikha), her fixation with the world of academics, and the inability of her circumstances to let her pursue it. Instead, she finds herself in front of the catatonic magnesium white flashes of the camera- cinema has called out to her. She grows into this regret, within this regret even, to become a star. She comes face to face with GMR (MGR was the iconic actor and Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu who mentored Jayalalithaa from her time as an actress into the world of politics. It was also widely rumoured that they pursued a grand affair. GMR is played with toxic  possessiveness and crude clarity by Indrajith Sukumaran.)

[I]t feels like you are watching three different characters instead of one character grow through time.

Shakthi in her twenties is played by Anjana. In her late thirties by Ramya Krishnan herself. So you have three actresses playing Shakthi, each with a different lilt. As a result it feels like you are watching three different characters instead of one character grow through time. This choppiness is further made worse by the decision to focus on one issue at a time. So when you see Shakthi dealing with the opioid crisis of her brother, she is only doing that. Later, this issue doesn't come up. When she is dealing with her love life, she is only in love. When she is acting, that is all she is doing.

Shakthi Seshadri- One Character, Three Actors

For example, wh en Shakthi meets GMR for the first time, there is a voiceover telling us that as a child she used to love watching his movies, and would throng in crowds hoping for a glimpse. This is never shown when she is a child. Instead, now that she is finally meeting GMR, we have flashbacks of young Shakthi watching his movies in admiration. Imagine a moment of a devout fan finally being asked by the object of her admiration to act opposite him- it is sheer euphoria. I felt nothing. This inability of the screenplay to negotiate the various things Shakthi is going through in one moment is its own undoing.  

[Shakthi] lives life without an agenda, and makes sense of it in retrospect, like most people do. But indecision is not cinematic.

Perhaps it is my fault in expecting a rousing, and thumping feel to truly dramatic moments. The last episode is a hard nod to the funeral of MGR in 1987. It is a moment I have heard about since my birth and was excited to see it be given a renewed birth on screen. It played out listlessly. But that does not mean it was boring. It was just ineffective.

I wanted to become a pound of goose-flesh every time she answers back to misogynistic pigs. I wanted my whistle moment. But this film, either by design or ineptitude, refuses to make Shakthi decisive, but neither does it make her a pulp puppy to circumstances. She openly tells Lilette that she wasn't sure what she was thinking in that moment. She lives life without an agenda, and makes sense of it in retrospect, like most people do. But indecision is not cinematic. And the length of the series too feels like a bit of a drag. 

But of course the magic of life comes through. That feeling of being under the sway of someone – a lover, sibling, parent- that you are willing to fall at the altar of their validation, comes out beautifully. Shakthi's allure with GMR stinks of this; you submit yourself to them, your dignity a mere forgotten afterthought. (I look back at videos of MGR and Jayalalithaa dancing and wonder what became of such chaste chemistry?)

The rudderless ideologies of the party workers who come across as white-clad obsequious pit-stains feels oddly reflective of our times. The AIADMK Party that housed both the populism and collective progressive conscience of Jayalalithaa and MGR has now fallen into a moment of crisis, having just voted for the contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill whose passage has led to a breakdown of law and order, with the Northeast and Delhi burning. 

In this context, a political film that is a reflection of a turmoiled life feels like calm in the midst of a shitstorm. But do we want calm or do we want justice? 

Note: MX Player plays the series in three versions. A Hindi, A Tamil, and a Tamil-English. In my opinion, the last version is best as it does not dub over the English dialogues with Tamil. 

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Queen review: Slow and brooding, Ramya Krishnan stars in a craftily made, J Jayalalithaa-inspired hagiography

If you can look past the biased hero-ing of a controversial figure, Queen is exceptional craft. Over eleven episodes, about 50 minutes each, Queen holds the attention of the viewer, in spite of its slow and lingering style.

Serial Chiller is Ranjani Krishnakumar’s monthly column about all things Tamil television. Read more from the series  here .

Queen opens to a shot of Lillete Dubey, a talk show host, a Simi Garewal stand-in, introducing her next guest Shakti Seshadri as ‘fearless’, ‘intelligent’, ‘very beautiful’, ‘enigma’ and a ‘myth’. Her first question to her guest is: “Were you always this strong?” In response, Ramya Krishnan, who plays the guest, takes a long pause before answering coyly, “nobody is born tough”.

Within the first two minutes of the first episode, even before the opening credits roll, we know who is telling this story.

Claiming that “any resemblance to… J Jayalalithaa is a huge coincidence” — as Ramya Krishnan told Scroll — is an inside joke, and all of Tamil Nadu is in on it. Because, without recent political memory, Queen would make for an incomplete, often incomprehensible, show. There are so many characters that need no introduction, so many incidents that need no elaboration, only because the audience can fill in the gaps from memory. It is this collective memory that frees the makers from stuffing the series with backstories and facts — or even really worrying about them.

And Reshma Ghatala, the creator and writer of the series, knows this. She has ingeniously bookended her protagonist’s story — beginning as a 15-year-old forced into cinema and ending just before her truly contentious times as a politician and a chief minister. It allows the series to be sympathetic of Shakti, exploring her feelings and self-discovery, instead of on her actions and its impact.

The talk show fits excellently in this scheme. It plays the role of the series’ anchor, each question taking us back to Shakti’s past and bringing us right back for editorialising. But, cinematically, the talk show also serves a larger purpose: It exists to eliminate any expectation of neutrality. Queen is not meant to be realistic; it is, in fact, a highly sanitised, cleverly dramatised and supremely kind reminiscence of a dead leader.

If you can look past the biased hero-ing of a controversial figure, Queen is exceptional craft. Over eleven episodes, about 50 minutes each, Queen holds the attention of the viewer, in spite of its slow and lingering style. Even while its jumping between timelines — not just between the present-day talk show and the past, but between various points in the past itself — Queen gets its tempo perfect. The fact that it’s anchored not around chronology, but around ideas, like regret, love, power, relationships, sisterhood etc, helps a great deal.

Refreshingly, and in this case aptly, the writing has the gaze of a woman. Queen is the story of a woman’s life held together by other women in her life — her mother, their neighbour Mala, her school principal Sister Flavia, friends Pinky and Alamelu, and later her assistant Suryakala. Her somewhat turbulent relationship with Janani, GMR’s wife, is also told through the prism of what’s common between them. These relationships are not taken lightly, each of them get their due, some more than others.

There is some exceptional staging through the show. My favourite is in the middle of the second episode, Shakti’s innocence breaks and she experiences the cruelty of the world for the first time. She goes to her best friend Pinky’s house for her engagement — we see men building temporary installations with thatch. Pinky’s mother tells Shakti that she’s now unwelcome, because of her new career as an actress. Shakti rushes to confront Pinky, who is standing in the balcony above her. Even as Shakti demands an answer, and Pinky stays unmoved, we see thatches closing in between them, shutting off Shakti completely from her best friend!

Much of the credit for the emotions that the series evokes should go to Darbuka Siva, the music director. Combined with Ramya Krishnan’s brooding narration, Siva gives the series an undertone of melancholy, that kindles sympathy for Shakti, making us want to root for her. Yet, Siva also spectacularly changes the mood of the show in episodes six and seven, the most Gautham Menon-esque of them all, where the charming man woos the woman with the flattering words and grand romantic actions.

This part of the series, though, got a little too Gautham Menon for me. For instance, there is a beautiful scene where Shakti turns her chair around so she can read without being distracted by her attraction for Chaitanya, the charming man wooing her. The scene itself is plenty cute, Anjana — who plays Shakti — cannily bringing the emotion to her eyes, the camera restlessly turning around her, perhaps just like her feelings, the music is just right. But they couldn’t resist the temptation of a voiceover — “Usually nothing could take me away from my book, but in this case, the words could have been in Mandarin for all I could care,” she begins!

And there are more Gautham Menon-isms. Throughout the series, everyone calls her Shakti, hardly ever anyone mispronouncing her name as Sakthi, like Tamil people might sometimes do. Some people even punctuate each sentence with the word Shakti, reminding me of ‘Daddy’ in Vaaranam Aayiram , or ‘Karthik’ in Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya . There is also an obsession to spell out Shakti’s last name everywhere possible. Stuff that a Jayalalithaa biopic might have used lesser of.

One of the biggest wins for Queen — something of an Achilles heel, in general for Tamil web series — is the casting. Even though each character is played by multiple actors, because the series pans a course of three decades, the hand-off isn’t as incoherent as I’d have expected. Anikha, who plays adolescent Shakti, sets the stage brilliantly. Take this scene for example. Shakti goes to a friend’s house, whose father is a photographer. He seeks permission, takes two-three pictures of her, and goes away. When Shakti turns around for something else, she unexpectedly spots him taking more pictures of her. Between each click, she goes from surprise to curiosity to fear to disbelief, we almost feel her worry!

But she’s not the only one. In spite of a few dubbing grates, Sonia Agarwal fits pretty well as a hard-working, cranky mother. Karuppu Nambiar, who plays her driver, gives us the calm reassurance of a confidante. Vamsi Krishna makes us believe that he’s her knight in shining armour. Vivek Rajagopal fits squarely as the cunning malefactor Paradeepan, in fact, if Gautham Menon hadn’t acted in the series, he might just have dubbed for Pradeepan. Indrajith Sukumaran, as GMR, Shakti’s lover and mentor, keeps us on the fence, we can’t decide even at the end if he’s the hero or the villain.

With over ten hours of content, Queen is certainly not for binge-watching. In that, it’s slow and brooding, making you invest more of yourself in it. It invites you to sit down and feel for the Shakti. “Oh, poor girl,” the show wants us to think, and condemn the injustices of her past.

Perhaps as a result of this, Shakti, in Queen , appears somewhat like a lost puppy whose story ends just as her reckoning begins. I’d have liked to see the story continue. But I doubt that’s ever to come, even though there is a throwaway dialogue teasing a second season. Glowing approvals of Jayalalithaa’s time as chief minister might be much harder to pull off, however good the craft. Or is it?

Ranjani Krishnakumar is a writer, obsessor and a nascent Chennai-vasi. You can reach her at @_tharkuri

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'Queen' review: Ramya Krishnan shines in slow-paced retelling of an old story

It brings to light troubled life of a powerful actress-turned-politician

In 2012, when popular author and journalist Vaasanthi was all set to release her book , Jayalalithaa: A Portrait, published by Penguin, the then chief minister went to court and got an injunction order against the book. The book was permanently banned from release after the court order. Imagine if Jayalalithaa had been alive to watch Ramya Krishnan in the web series Queen, streaming on MX Player. She was an enigma. A strong woman admired by everyone around her even for her authoritative attitude.

And now after her death, through Queen, directors Gautham Vasudev Menon and Prasath Murugesan retell the story of a strong woman who broke the glass ceiling in a man’s world. Though it comes with the strong disclaimer that it is purely fictional, much can be read between the lines. Queen tells the fascinating journey of a resilient woman Sakthi Seshadri—from being a bright young student who finds herself forced into the film industry, only to fight odds in life and later transform into a politician.

Unfortunately, Queen narrates the anecdotal tales that have been often told and retold in Tamil Nadu politics. With 11 episodes, each running to maximum 50 minutes, the story takes the viewer through every bit of Sakthi's personal life. Each episode has titles explaining her journey right from being a bright school student (essayed by Anikha Surendran) who wants to pursue a law degree, to an actress (Anjana Jayaprakash) who gets caught in mood swings with nightmares about her own life, and finally to a strong woman (Krishnan)who emerges to succeed the men who pull her down.

ALSO READ:  Didn't refer to Jayalalithaa's life: Ramya Krishnan on role in 'Queen'

The series begins with a television anchor interviewing the chief minister of the state. Reminiscent of the famous Simi Garewal interview with Jayalalithaa, the complete 11-episode-series is narrated by an emotional Krishnan as Sakthi. Centered around the interview and a free-wheeling chat between host Lillete Dubey and Krishnan, the story brings to light the troubled life of the actress-turned-politician. Based on Anita Sivakumaran’s book, The Queen, the series at times bores you with frustrating preachy dialogues.

As the young girl who wants to top her school, Anikha—the young actress who was noted for her performance in Viswasam— brims with immense potential. Not only is she a spirited girl who looks forward to a bright future, she also yearns to be cared by her mother Ranganayaki, essayed by Sonia Agarwal. The first few episodes talk about the rocky relationship between the mother and the daughter who does not want to pursue a career in films and who is unprepared for the ups and downs in a celebrity's life. The mother character is later played by Thulasi. As the young actor, Anjana breathes life into Sakthi in her early 20s. Anger, romance, and the longing to be part of a family is evident in her eyes and body language. Her romantic scenes with director Chaitanya Reddy played by Vamsi Krishna, have the classic Gautham Menon touch, but fail to hold the audience as they run in a slow pace on the most expected lines. Ramya Krishnan is awesome as the bold and decisive political leader, giving an autobiographical feel to the web series.

Actor Indrajith Sukumaran plays politician GMR, quite understandably modelled on MGR. But Indrajith doesn’t do full justice as the actor-politician who was the heartthrob of millions in Tamil Nadu. And of course every character we know in Jayalalithaa’s life, be it Sasikala or MGR’s secretary, are all present in the series.

Slow-paced with a soft narration every now and then, it is after all the same story that everyone knows. And except the character of Sakhti Seshadri, no other character is strongly built, only to make the audience connect it to the real-life characters. Again, most of the series revolves around tales that Tamil Nadu has talked about several times again and again. Queen is of course not the untold story; but a story retold.

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Queen: Ramya Krishnan Resurrects Jayalalithaa, And How!

Watch queen for ramya krishnan, and for the familiarity of a story you know, but just barely., queen review: ramya krishnan resurrects jayalalithaa.

'Did you love him?’

That’s what Simi Garewal asked J Jayalalithaa, late CM and ‘Amma’ of Tamil Nadu, in her popular talk show Rendezvous . It is this interview that drives the narrative of Queen , a ‘biopic’ series based on the novel of the same name.

The first season (eleven episodes of about an hour each) is out on MX Player. Here’s The Quint’s review. It’s a bilingual (English-Tamil), but the Tamil version is dubbed and feels like a shoddy afterthought. There are quite a lot of Tamil dialogues in the English version, but that’s mostly spot on.

Directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and Prasath Murugesan, Queen has Ramya Krishnan playing the lead role. Queen tells the familiar story of Jayalalithaa's childhood, life as a cinema star and MGR's protege, and as a politician. But it takes the viewer into the living rooms of these familiar characters, and lets you listen in to their personal conversations.

The trailer, btw, is unimaginative, and carpeted with a single music track that has nothing to do with the visuals. Those who look past it, and begin to watch the show, are rewarded.

It's like breaking the coconut of banality to get to the sweet water and pulp inside.

Queen , the series, is a heady mix of the political history of Tamil Nadu, the story of Kollywood (Tamil cinema), and some insidious cinematic liberties. And Ramya Krishnan reigns supreme, as J Jaya... I mean, Shakti Seshadri.

And therein lies the first hook. Everything about the series is familiar. The story of J Jayalalithaa, right from her 'class-leader' student days, to her tantrum protesting her mother's decision to push her into cinema, to her MGR and Soban Babu’s love stories. But the names have been changed slightly, the party colours altered just a tad, Ramya Krishnan looks nothing like Jayalalithaa but her personality is identical.

MGR would go undercover in his films, and get into a disguise. He would do this by adding a fake mole to his face. Nothing more. No one in the filmy world would recognize him. Everyone in the audience knew it was him. And this is how it is with Queen and it’s characters.

Any resemblance to characters or incidences in real life seem purposely incidental. The problem of finding 'lookalikes' is thus eliminated, and the viewer is left to pick out the very obvious easter eggs strewn across every episode.

The first season is of eleven episodes. Each episode is anywhere between 45 minutes to over an hour in length. All of the actors think before they speak, and after they speak. And also speak slowly, as if thinking while they speak.

The pace of the series flits between slow burner and plain slow. But as we get to the second or third episode, when the young Shakti Seshadri is no different from ‘Ammu’ (Jayalalithaa’s pet name), the pacing actually feels comfortable.

Queen isn't a movie, nor is it the typical digital series. It is its own animal, and one that takes full advantage of the fact that time is not a limitation in this format. Yes, everything is slower than normal. But in spite of this, and despite the fact that the entire series hinges on conversations between people; it holds.

Pre-teen and teenage Jayalalithaa is played by Anikha. She has played the daughter to Tamil star Ajith in two films. She plays herself, and does it well. Anjana is the young Jayalalithaa. She is burdened with dialogues that aren't. Most of her lines in English are ramblings that fit into the pages of a diary. And her body language is far from that of a hyper-intelligent, supremely confident woman who is used to looking her best under the constant spotlight and cameras.

Ramya Krishnan makes it a point to not imitate Jayalalithaa. Not even in the Simi Garewal interview scenes, where she wears almost the same costume. She wears Jayalalithaa’s attitude instead, and has taken in Jaya’s life story, as her own.

A woman born in a conservative family, pushed into a profession she wants no part of, taken advantage of, her silence mistaken for arrogance, toughened by circumstance, at the top of her profession; This is Jayalalithaa's life, by her own admission, in a nutshell. And it rings equally true of Ramya Krishnan's life too, as she admits in an interview to The Quint .

Her portrayal therefore is electrifying, despite the fact that it's slower than real life, and despite the fact that we can compare these visuals to Jayalalithaa's video interviews.

Indrajith Sukumaran plays GMR (like MGR), and reveals the silently menacing side to the original superstar CM of Tamil cinema. He's not melodramatic by any measure. And sometimes, his pauses between dialogues feel like they're more cued by someone off-screen than as part of the character. Yet, the Shakti Seshadri-GMR conversations are gold. The chemistry is electrifying, and Indrajith coolly holds his own against a consummate actor.

Adapted from the novel to the screen by Reshma Ghatala, the tone of the narrative in Queen occasionally goes adrift, especially when the characters begin to philosophise their situations. Shakti Seshadri's suicide note to her childhood friend is the best example of this malaise. It starts off in a simple enough ramble, and then;

“Had I imagined, unrequited, a relationship of sisterhood with you?...Was it just the see-saw of emotions I felt when I was with him giving me the illusion that I was in a relationship with him? When in reality, I was probably just marginalia?”

The Tamil-English version is the best option (versus Hindi or Tamil). Most of the dialogues between the characters is in Tamil, while the Simi Garewal interview and some personal ramblings are in English. This keeps English dialogues that have no connect with the ethos of the world, as marginalia.

It’s the actors and their performances that somehow makes the dialogues work. Surprisingly, the Tamil dubbing over the English dialogues has even less of a connect, since it's spoken in a generic, ad-film dialect.

Queen has its flaws. But it is the largest, and most ambitious Tamil language series to hit the digital platform yet. Ramya Krishnan truly shines in her character, because she lives each moment of it. Despite the disconnect in dialogues, the plot twists that are surprisingly close to reality, keeps the audience hooked. And while Darbuka Siva's music is uninspired and safe, and probably from a licensed music bank, it doesn't disturb.

Gautham Vasudev Menon has delivered content that can be considered a fresh twist to a familiar genre, if not the first steps towards a whole new genre of storytelling. Watch Queen , for Ramya Krishnan, and for the familiarity of a story you know, but just barely.

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'Queen' review: A rare, good tamil web series

In another country, or perhaps in another time, the makers of Queen — directors Gautham Menon and Prasath Murugesan, and the producer, MX Player — would have proclaimed that the web series is a fictional take on the life of the late Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa. It would have helped us stop worrying about making inevitable comparisons with Jayalalithaa’s life, about viewing the series with knowledge of the highlights of her life.

This constant reminder of who this woman went on to become adds great flavour to your enjoyment of her early life in this series. In the first episode (of the series’ 11 episodes), you see Jaya —, sorry, Shakthi Seshadri, exhibiting her authority as the head girl of Church Pa — sorry, St. Louis Park School. It’s hard not to have a smile on your face already, as you can’t help but compare this with the sort of authority she will eventually go on to wield.

However, one of my favourite aspects of this series, written by Reshma Ghatala (who also wrote Gautham Menon’s Neethaane En Ponvasantham), is its reluctance to simply ride on the highlights of its protagonist’s illustrious life. The eleven episodes, apart from tracing broad milestones in her early life, look to meditate on what living must be like for a free-spirited, strong woman.

The series cleverly uses portions from an elderly Shakthi’s interview (with a person seemingly modelled after Simi Garewal, who has done a famous interview with Jayalalithaa) to help us segue into key portions in her life. It’s a clever replacement for a voice-over, and does so much more than simply expose information. It offers some profound reflections on life as a woman, some scathing commentary on men, and occasionally, just dwelling on subjects of life, like one’s relationship with parents, for instance.

ALSO READ: 'Queen' is not based on any real person, says Gautham Menon

Like when Shakthi talks about how children expect parents to be embodiments of perfection, and how they wait to latch on to a single mistake. Like when she comments on how death of a parent sneaks upon children, no matter how long it’s been coming. Like when she says that we always seem to plaster the 35-year-old image of a parent on them, no matter how long they live. These are profound observations to make about life, and in these portions enacted by Ramya Krishnan, you could squint and see Jayal — you get it.

The actor portrays quiet strength and a certain guarded vulnerability beautifully. All this vulnerability is partly on account of Shakthi hailing from a broken home. In a sense — and bear with me about this comparison — she’s a bit like Harry Potter. She’s unhappy at home, and the only place she finds any belonging in, is at her school where she’s famous. The episode, Home and Away, helps you understand what she views to be her home. These intimate portions really took my mind away from the larger-than-life quality of you-know-who.

This web series is available in Tamil, English-Tamil, and Hindi. After trying out all the languages, I can say with some confidence that the English-Tamil version is the best, as it gives you the best of both worlds. The Tamil-only version of the web series results in the awkwardness of characters having Tamil conversations where they would ostensibly be speaking in English, like in Shakthi’s convent, or like when she’s to be talking to a person who can’t speak Tamil.

I watched this series in a single stretch, and given that some of the episodes stretch till an hour almost, it’s fair to say I put in a proper shift. I think it’s better to allow breathers between episodes, as some of them are quite heavy, with the occasional one or two almost feeling sluggish, especially in the context of the whole show. Perhaps that’s also why the series has been split into three main segments: Shakthi as a school student (Anikha), as a young actor (Anjana Jayaprakash), and as a politician (Ramya Krishnan), with each of these segments tastefully being poured into the other every once in a while.

The three actors almost begin to look like one another, helping give this series a lived-in feeling almost. I thought the Pinky family wasn’t as convincing though, as was the decision to change Shakthi’s mother from Sonia Agarwal to another actor (whose performance I totally enjoyed). A big shoutout also to the actor who breathed menace as Shakthi’s adversary, Pradheepan. Watch out for a monologue towards the end of the season when he talks about how some women are actually beneficiaries of this being a man’s world.

While on great stretches of acting, I loved Anikha in that phone scene when she deals with the disappointment of knowing college education will never be hers, for no fault of hers. Of the three, I took the longest to warm up to Anjana Jayaprakash, whose episodes serve us some vintage Gautham Menon romance, replete with the initial excitement of romance, those flirtatious glances, those back-and-forth jabs and compliments… Having said that, this is a series whose biggest rush is that it’s based on you-know-who and her ascent to power, and so, the seemingly lengthy romance portions with Telugu filmmaker Chaitanya Reddy do get tedious after a while.

Queen also shows a lot of self-awareness. You wonder if Shakthi constantly paints herself to be a victim, and another character asks her if she’s a victim or a participant. You wonder if she’s really in love with GMR, and the interviewer asks her if she thinks she suffered from Stockholm Syndrome. Still, I would have loved to hear a less talking about these issues, and a little more showing, especially given the time they had. All the run-time, the slo-mo shots, the deliberate pacing… is made more palatable by Darbuka Siva’s atmospherical music. The theme track has really grown on me too.

All the evident enjoyment drawn from comparisons with you-know-who aside, I do think there’s a strong case to be made for why  is better consumed as a slow-burning character study of a woman who learns that the way to survive in a world that’s hostile to women is to try and take charge of it. As she says, “Take power, if only to keep harmful people at bay.” In a series about a public personality, the private revelations are my most favourite. She had a tough time saying no. She was frightful of phone calls. She was desperate to prove a point to her estranged friend. She yearned for a family she could call her own. And for being as sensitive, when they could have so easily just ridden on you-know-who’s fame, I have no hesitation in calling it the first good web series I have seen in the Tamil OTT space.

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'Queen' web series wins international acclaim

The web series Queen starring Ramya Krishnan has won the Best Original Series at Singapore’s Asian Acadamy creative awards. Directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon along with Prasath Murugesan, the web series Queen was released last year on MX Player.

Ramya's words

Ramya Krishanan took to her social networking page to express her happiness on the web series winning an award.

You don't look like 50: Netizens tell Ramya Krishnan after she shares birthday pics

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She also mentioned that she is looking forward to begin filming for the second season of the series.

"Elated that #Queen won Best Original Series at Singapore’s Asian Acadamy creative awards on the very same day we started filming-December 5th! Competing against shows across all Asian countries. A shoutout to team #Queen," she wrote.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ramya Krishnan (@meramyakrishnan)

Queen was based on former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and actor J Jayalalithaa. Written by Reshma Ghatala, the film starred Ramya Krishnan, Anikha Surendran, and Anjana Jayaprakash in the lead roles while Indrajith Sukumaran, Sonia Aggarwal, and Vamsi Krishna played other pivotal characters.

Meanwhile, director Gautham Menon, in a media interaction recently confirmed that he was working on the script for second season with writers.

It is yet to be seen if Prasath Murugesan, who co-directed the first season of Queen, will be back for season 2 or not.

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Ramya Krishnan is the perfect Jayalalitaa in Queen Trailer, except she isn't!

Published date : 05/dec/2019.

Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and late actress Jayalalitaa 's life is finally taking shape on-screen as a web-series Queen the trailer for which dropped today. The series has big names attached to it like Ramya Krishnan (lead), Gautham Menon (director) and Darbuka Siva (music) among others. However, people who were excited about Ramya Krishnan's replication of 'Amma' on-screen will be a bit taken aback to know that her name is nowhere to be seen/heard in the trailer. 

Ramya Krishnan plays 'Shakthi Seshadri' and this nowhere relates to the various names Jayalalitha was known by-Komalavalli/Ammu/Jaya/Amma/Puratchi Thalaivi. However, Shakthi's portrayal on-screen replicates Jayalalitha's life to the T and even MGR (played by Indrajith Sukumaran ) has a close enough acronym - 'GMR' in Queen .

Links for other Language Trailers of Queen! Tamil - https://t.co/B5rVlgXyjZ Hindi - https://t.co/N2xeybFPHX Bengali - https://t.co/JSJt3HF3Db #QueenIsComing https://t.co/kMp07Tw2fo — Gauthamvasudevmenon (@menongautham) December 5, 2019

Queen premieres as an MX original starting December 14, 2019 and has been written by  Reshma Ghatala .  

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Queen web series - first episode review | Ramya Krishnan | Gautham Menon | Jayalalithaa

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The wait has ended and we now get to witness the first episode of the newly-released web series, Queen , jointly directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and Prasath Murugesan. Initially speculated to be based on the life history of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, Queen ,   based on the novel, The Queen , is inspired from the true events over the course of the former stateswoman's life. The theme of the series is positive and motivating with the plot set from Shakthi’s (Ramya Krishnan) point of view.

The first episode of MX Player’s original series, showcases the school life of Shakthi played by Anikha Surendran of Yennai Arindhaal fame. Her character is strongly established and is one who is extremely straight-forward and outperforms in everything she comes across.

The opening episode also lays emphasis on the dark side of her life, the difficulty within her house and sheds light on the relationship she shared with her mother, portrayed by Sonia Agarwal. She is the right choice to play the mother role and perfectly suits the character as her presence and performance are natural. However, the lead character (Shakthi), shines high as the drama gets more intense and is inspiring as she comes out with flying colors amidst all odds. The ending is solid and there is a small play in the edit which makes it better.

On the technical front, there are no faults in the quality and no compromises have been made in the making as the set work takes us back to the 1960s. Darbuka Siva has made the product musically impressive. Visuals are refreshing, but a different color pallet could have been chosen for the 60s portions considering a majority of the plot is set in the said time period. In addition, the English dialogue delivery feels slightly monotonous at certain places.

The first episode has been directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and in overall is highly impressive in many aspects and generates plenty of curiosity within us to witness the forthcoming drama in Shakthi’s life. The base for the upcoming episodes has been beautifully set and we now have quite a lot to look forward to in the days ahead. The story of Queen will be shown across a total of 10 episodes and begins streaming from December 14.

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Queen first look: Ramya Krishnan as J Jayalalithaa spells power. See pic

According to sources, the webseries will categorise jayalalithaa’s life into three segments - her life as a school-going girl, a teenager and the phase when she joined politics, taking over mg ramachandran’s place after his demise..

The first look of upcoming web series Queen, based on the life of former Tamil Nadu chief minister and actor J. Jayalalithaa, was unveiled on Saturday and The poster features actor Ramya Krishnan posing as Jayalalithaa from her heyday.

A production of MX Player, the series has been jointly directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and Prasath Murugesan of Kidaari fame. According to industry sources, the show will categorise Jayalalithaa’s life into three segments. It will focus on her life as a school-going girl, a teenager and the phase when she joined politics, taking over MG Ramachandran’s place after his demise.

While Gautham has directed five episodes, Prasath has directed five too. Two episodes have been jointly directed by both of them. It is yet unknown when the show will be released. However, it is believed that MX Player has already given their nod for the second season.

Gautham currently has two projects in his kitty. He has a film titled Joshua: Koolipadai with actor Varun in the pipeline. He also has a rumoured project with Suriya in the offing and the yet-untitled film will be bankrolled by Lyca Productions.

Also read: Vidyut Jammwal works out with a full LPG cylinder, Adah Sharma says ‘Happy Teachers’ Day, thanks for inspiring us’. Watch

A few years ago, Suriya and Gautham were supposed to team up for a project titled Dhruva Natchathiram, which the latter went on to make with Vikram and is due for release soon.

When Suriya opted out of Dhruva Natchathiram just weeks before the project was scheduled to go on the floors, it affected his relationship with Gautham and both were not on talking terms for a long time.

In a recent media interaction while promoting his upcoming release Enai Noki Paayum Thota, Gautham confirmed that a project with Suriya is in the offing. However, he refused to divulge more details as he felt it should come from the makers.

Apparently, Gautham flew to London where Lyca is headquartered to finalise things on the project. If everything goes as planned, the film will take off early next year.

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Ramya Krishnan begins shooting for Queen Season 2. Fans call her Junior Jayalalithaa

Ramya krishnan began shooting for the second season of queen, a web series loosely based on former tamil nadu chief minister j jayalalitha's life. she dropped a series of pictures from the sets..

Listen to Story

• Ramya Krishnan started shooting for Queen Season 2.
• The series is being directed by Gautham Menon and Prasath Murugesan.
• Queen is loosely based on Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa's life.

RAMYA KRISHNAN COMMENCES SHOOTING FOR QUEEN SEASON 2

Ramya Krishnan, who is currently juggling different projects, is thrilled for her future films and series. She is also a judge on BB Jodigal , a dance reality show, which is being aired on Vijay Television.

On May 30, Ramya Krishnan took to Instagram to drop a series of pictures from the sets of her upcoming series, Queen. She has resumed the shooting of Queen Season 2. "Yes yes yes...(sic)," she captioned the post with folded hands and heart emojis.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ramya Krishnan (@meramyakrishnan)

Soon, her fans flooded the comments section on her Instagram post. A fan called her Junior Jayalalithaa and also congratulated her for resuming the show.

Soon, the announcement regarding the release of Queen Season 2 will be out. ALSO READ | Queen Review: Ramya Krishnan is a majestic political leader in new web series

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Queen Tamil TV Series

Queen is a 2019 Indian tv series directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and Prasath Murugesan starring Ramya Krishnan, Anikha Surendran, Indrajith Sukumaran and Vanitha Krishnachandran. Music for the TV Series is composed by Darbuka Siva.

Directors: Gautham Vasudev Menon , Prasath Murugesan Music Director: Darbuka Siva Cinematographers: S. R. Kathiir, Manikandan, Velraj Editor: Praveen Antony Original Story Writer: Reshma Ghatala

Queen (II) (2019– )

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