Viceroy’s House review: Gurinder Chadha co-writes and directs this massively intimate and indeed epic story at the time of partition and independence in 1947 India.
Viceroy’s House review by Paul Heath at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival.
Viceroy’s House review
Bend It Like Beckham and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging director Gurinder Chadha brings Viceroy’s House, her most personal and ambitious project to cinema screens, a film debuting out-of-competition at the 2017 Berlin Film Festival, where it receives its world premiere.
The film is the true story of the 1947 handing over of power in India from the British Empire back to its people after three centuries of rule. Hugh Bonneville assumes the role of the last Viceroy of India, and indeed Queen Victoria’s great-grandson Lord Mountbatten, the man tasked with overseeing the transition. The motion picture, which is huge in scale, focusses its attention on the Partition of India and particularly the Viceroy’s House of the title, which at the time held 500 staff made up of Muslim, Hindu and Sikh servants. The movie covers the brewing conflict as decisions are made to create a new Muslim homeland, Pakistan, as political leaders including Nehru, Jinnah and Gandhi come together in the house to wrangle over the birth of independent India.
Viceroy’s House review
As mentioned above, the scope of this movie is epic, but Chadha’s film, which she co-wrote with husband, frequent collaborator and accomplished screenwriter Paul Mayeda Berges, is also a very intimate one, with the heart of the story focussing on a young Hindu servant, Jeet (Manish Dayal), and his intended Muslim bride, Aalia (Huma Qureshi). A lot of Chadha’s self-referential family history clearly influences some of this story-arc, which in this case involves the late, great Om Puri, Aalia’s father who must abandon his home to leave for a new life, hundreds of miles from Delhi. Both Qureshi and Puri are exceptional, the latter in one of his final roles before his sad passing in January of 2017, but it is Dayal who once again stands out, very much as he did in the very under-rated ‘Hundred-Foot Journey’ released just a couple of years back.
Hugh Bonneville stands firm as the central character of Mountbatten, while Gillian Anderson is also solid as Lady Edwina. Chadha has also assembled an excellent supporting cast, from legendary British thespians in Sir Michael Gambon and Simon Callow, who play General Hastings Ismay (Pug) and Cyril Radcliffe respectfully, and Indian film and theatre actor Neeraj Kabi, who provides an utterly convincing portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi.
Viceroy’s House review
While one cannot fail to be largely impressed by the scale and execution of Chadha’s film, it’s difficult to over-look other less breath-taking elements along the way. While the practical locations (largely shot in the area of Jodhpur in Rajasthan) are stunning, and the use of extras over computer-generated enhancements welcomed, the film is slightly let down by scenes where its actors are imposed into old Movietone reels, which you can’t help but feel were best left out altogether. Some story arcs bleed into excessive sentimentality along the way, particularly right at the very end, which was also a slight disappointment.
That all said, there is lots to feast on in this emotional, massively informative, ambitious and intimate piece from Chadha and her team. It manages to capture the upsetting events of this pivotal time in Indian history without graphic depictions on screen, but with a clever, descriptive screenplay, expertly, carefully crafted by Paul Meyeda Berges, Moira Buffini and Chahda herself.
Viceroy’s House review by Paul Heath, Berlin 2017.
Viceroy’s House will be released in UK cinemas on 3rd March 2017.
