Queen
Director: Gautham Menon, Prasath Murugesan
Cast: Ramya Krishnan, Anjana Jayaprakash
Streaming on: MXPlayer
Rating: 

There's an alluring quality to a woman as charismatic as the late J Jayalalithaa. Marked with crests and troughs, her journey — which she described as "tempestuous" in an interview — lends itself effortlessly to an on-screen rendition. It is, therefore, unpardonable that directors Gautham Menon and Prasath Murugesan deliver a snooze fest in Queen, which cannot be saved by leading lady Ramya Krishnan's unflinching performance. The problem perhaps lies in the linear structure of the narrative, and not the material itself.

The series opens with an interview of the protagonist, Shakthi Sheshadri, harking back to Simi Garewal's famous interview with Jayalalithaa, thus setting the stage for the protagonist to walk the viewers through her life. Shakthi is introduced to us as a brilliant student who seeks refuge from her troubled family life in studies. What weakens the tempo is banking heavily on child actor Anikha Surendran, who plays the young Shakthi, for two episodes. She soon passes the baton to Anjana Jayaprakash who has the desired screen presence as well.