The trailer of MX Player’s teleseries Queen starring Ramya Krishnan in the titular role has dropped. Helmed by Gautham Vasudev Menon and Kidaari fame Prasath Murugesan, the series is based on the life of former Chief Minister of TN and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa, tracing her life from childhood to her death.
Anikha Surendran will play the younger and Anjana Jayaprakash will play the teenage JJ. Indrajith Sukumaran has been roped in to play MGR in the series.
The trailer begins with a schoolgirl (Anikha) walking through her school corridors, backed by the introductory note from Simi Garewal’s popular interview with the politician where she introduced JJ (who has been rechristened Shakthi Seshadri in the series).
Three consecutive shots of all three versions of the politicians follow wherein the tone shifts from monochrome to colour as they walk towards the camera, probably indicating a critical moment at every stage of the woman’s life.
GMR (Indrajith portraying MGR) is introduced and we find him encouraging, sharing a moment on set, and asking the actress to campaign on his behalf. Instances of joy and sorrow are seen right through the trailer showing her life right from being a state topper to the state’s youngest chief minister. We also catch a glimpse of Gautham Menon essaying the role of a director in the series.
Ondraaga Entertainment took to Twitter to release the trailer.
Here is the Official Trailer of #QUEEN starring @meramyakrishnan, directed by @menongautham & @Murugesanprasad. Releasing on @MXPlayer, this December 14th.
▶️ https://t.co/3cPRVWdbFD@srkathiir @DarbukaSiva #MXOriginalSeries #QueenIsComing pic.twitter.com/mGLW7dVR8p
— OndragaEntertainment (@OndragaEnt) December 5, 2019
Queen will run for three seasons, with the first season running for eleven episodes. Sources close to the production told Silverscreen.in that the first season will dwell on JJ’s childhood and end with her entry into politics.
It will talk about all the struggles she faced and how she unwillingly entered the film industry. “All the characters’ names have been altered carefully with no direct reference to any of the politicians,” added the source.
“Some characters compel you to take on the challenge and being Shakthi was one of them. I have been truly inspired by the lady and the fact that she had to sacrifice her childhood and face the hard world she lived in was something that appealed to me, making me take up this project instantly,” said Ramya Krishnan.
Director-Producer Gautham Menon said, “Some stories deserve to be told and this was one of them. We’ve worked extremely hard for the series and I couldn’t have asked for a better team to help me put this together. Every character that is associated with the show has a solid reason to be there and each actor has done a wonderful job.”
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“We believe that this is a story with universal appeal, that transcends languages and geographies. We’ve treated this project as a magnum opus – be it associating with the best creative minds, a powerhouse cast or the scale of production. This journey of a lost little girl, who loses faith in everything she puts her trust in, and finally emerges as a law unto herself is sure to strike a chord across the country.” said Karan Bedi, CEO, MX Player.
The cast includes Lilette Dubey, Sonia Agarwal, Viji Chandrasekar, Rajie Vijay Sarathy, Vanitha Krishnachandran, Charmila and Tulasi Shivamani in significant roles.
Darbuka Siva will be composing music, cinematographers SR Kathir, V Manikandan and R Velraj cranking the camera, Kumar Gangappan helming art and Praveen Antony on the edit. Eka Lakhani has designed the costumes for the series.
Silverscreen recently spoke to Gautham Vasudev Menon who said that his associate Reshma had penned the script. “It’s nice to bring my sensibilities to someone else’s writing,” he said. The series will release in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Bengali on the MX Player app on December 14th.
We were all in this only for the writing and it was a very satisfying and emotional filming experience. The writing and this content, this cast and crew coming together, the production of Queen, is all one woman’s vision. Reshma Ghatala.
Thank you Reshma ! https://t.co/ZbxisQj4E1— Gauthamvasudevmenon (@menongautham) December 5, 2019
Watch the English trailer of Queen here.