By Tania Phillips
VICEROY’S HOUSE
PG
Main Cast: Gillian Anderson, Hugh Bonneville, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi
Director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham, Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging) is quietly proving to be one of the great storytellers of our time whether it be on a small scale like Bend It Like Beckham or on a grand scale like this. She manages to find the humanity in a story, the quirkiness while still conveying great heart – even in a period of history as dramatic as the last months of British rule in India.
Viceroy House is set in Delhi in 1947 as Lord Louis Mountbatten, great grandson of Queen Victoria (Hugh Bonneville), and his wife Edwina (Gillian Anderson) come to India be the final English rulers of India. But political divides are great (for three hundred years it served the Brits well to keep all the religious groups fighting – divide and conquer) and it soon becomes clear that there would be two nations emerging and not one (a decision whose impact is still being felt today). The story of the final days of the raj and of the creation of the new Muslim homeland – Pakistan – is seen through the eyes of Dicki and Edwina and between Hindu servant Jeet (Manish Dayal) and the Muslim girl he loves (Hurna Qureshi).
While the romance between Jeet and Ailia seems a little forced and contrived it still serves as a window into what is happening “downstairs” in the great house and the wider Indian community. The standout is Gillian Anderson as Edwina Mountbatten – imbuing her character with a combination of compassion and English stiff-upper lip, Anderson is almost unrecognisable.
Beautifully, tragically and sympathetically told and well-acted, Viceroy House is informative, funny, tragic, warm and real is another Chadha gem.
