Bollywood film about a jilted woman's coming of age proves a winner

Bollywood film Queen tells the coming-of-age story of a young woman named Rani (which means "Queen" in Hindi) who, after being dumped by her fiancé Vijay a day before their wedding, decides to go off on a European "honeymoon" by herself.

Shot on location in Delhi, Paris and Amsterdam, the film has been a hit with audiences both outside and inside the usual Bollywood movie markets.

The multicultural crowd-pleaser with Kangana Ranaut in the lead role had its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival last October; it has so far been screened in the US, Britain and Canada as well as in India and Pakistan. Due to open in Hong Kong on Thursday, there's already talk of remaking the largely Hindi and English-language film in Tamil, Telugu and, possibly, Putonghua.

Director and co-scriptwriter (along with four others) Vikas Bahl has a good idea why Rani's story has struck a chord with audiences at home and abroad. "The film talks about self discovery and liberation, which are such universal themes," he says. "A person anywhere in the world could have his or her own reasons for not being able to lead the life they want. I think that is what resonated with audiences in different parts of the world."

More surprising for Bahl has been the domestic reception of the movie. "We knew we had made a good film and were very excited to put it out there. But we simply didn't anticipate this kind of box office, or critical, success," the director says.

Queen's production budget of about 130 million rupees (HK$17 million) is on the small side for Bollywood. "We wanted to make a fun film while also sending a message. It was always a positive film in my mind, so I knew the movie was going to have a 'feel good' element to it that at least a part of the audience would like. [But] the big studios didn't necessarily think that. I don't blame them since neither I nor Kangana could command the budget [a bigger] film would have required," says Bahl.

Despite getting off to a slow start after its domestic release, the critically acclaimed film came close to joining the prestigious "100 Crore Club" of movies whose box office takings exceeded one billion rupees, an elite list that includes 3 Idiots and Chennai Express. But Bahl - whose only previous directorial outing was as co-director of the 2011 children's movie Chillar Party - says Queen's domestic takings have already far exceeded his expectations. "We would have considered even one-third of its current success as having done extremely well."

Rani is an amalgamation of the women he saw around him while growing up. "Rani wanting to get married to Vijay and then living as per his terms and conditions is something I saw a lot in real life. No one specific, but it made me wonder what would happen if she didn't," the director says.