Girl power for the powerless, direct from Bollywood

When I first saw Queen, I was growing fatigued with female heroes.

It's not as if Hollywood was drowning me in a deluge of women -- the exact opposite, actually -- but because strong female leads had to be so much more daunting and impressive than their male counterparts. Powerful female protagonists were formulated in Khaleesi's image, or cut from Olivia Pope's coat cloth. These characters were brilliant but mostly aspirational and out-of-reach for the average viewer looking for a role model. It's hard to find inspiration in a character when you can't relate with her.

Enter 2014's Queen, the story of a seemingly unremarkable middle-class Indian woman who finds her own strength -- not in order to kick butt or save the world, but to save herself.

Jilted right before her wedding, the film's protagonist, Rani (Kangana Ranaut), decides to go on her honeymoon to Europe alone. What starts as an escapist holiday becomes a crash course in self-discovery: this queen must learn to rule her own world. (And it's hardly coincidental that Rani's name means "queen.")

What's so powerful about Queen is how ordinary Rani is. She isn't a supermodel or an executive or a secret agent -- other acclaimed heroines Bollywood has written for its actresses -- and she's all the more relatable for it. Too many women in India and around the world are still raised and groomed for marriage, left feeling like failures if it doesn't pan out. Rani is all too relatable.

The canceled wedding is a time-honored Bollywood tradition, but Queen takes it a step further and flips it on its head. Rani learns how to live without a plan -- or a man -- and that liberation is a joy to witness.

Ladies, you are all queens.

How to watch: Free (and subtitled) with ads on Einthusan, to rent/buy on YouTube, iTunes, Google Play and Amazon.