Viceroy’s House (2017) Review!!!

Synopsis – The final Viceroy of India, Lord Mountbatten, is tasked with overseeing the transition of British India to independence, but meets with conflict as different sides clash in the face of monumental change.

My Take – For every Indian (like myself) and Pakistani the year 1947 holds a significant importance, mainly as the year marked the end of the 300 years old reign of the British Empire on the country. This was also the year when India upon the persistence of the Muslim League and other political parties was divided into the form of another country known as Pakistan. This partition has been a fascinating piece of post-war history, and one that can be told from all manner of viewpoints and while numerous Indian films have addressed various aspects of the traumatic event (such as Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, Pinjar, Garm Hawa, Earth, Dharam Putra, Train to Pakistan), this is the first one to entirely look at the historic moment from the British perspective. Here, director Gurinder Chada (Bend It Like Beckham) draws on her own family history to explore the events surrounding the time period with a far more complex setting and eminent violence than any other film could adequately capture and along the way educate the outside world on the roots of a deadly dangerous conflict that continues to simmer today, seven decades later — between two nuclear armed giants. While, you’d expect any historical retelling of the events to have some real drama and tension, the film doesn’t quite manage that, generally settling for a more visually lush depiction of the history that only gets into the heavier side of the true events only in the final hour. It’s still a historically interesting watch, mainly lively and enjoyable, with a strong sense of humor and some romantic surges that help the story resonate, just not quite the fiery historical drama that it could have been.

The story follows Lord Louis ‘Dickie’ Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville), cousin to King George, who arrives in 1947 Delhi as the last viceroy to the British Empire, as they plan to leave India after three centuries of their colonial rule. Accompanied by his wife Lady Edwina Mountbatten (Gillian Anderson) and daughter Lady Pamela Hicks (Lily Travers), Dickie is tasked with smoothening the process of the transition of power to the ruling democratic party of India, however with the help of Chief of Staff General Hastings Ismay (Michael Gambon) he must first find a way to subdue the tension between Mahatma Gandhi (Neeraj Kabi), Jawaharlal Nehru (Tanveer Ghani) & Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Denzil Smith). As bloodshed continues all over the country, Dickie is tasked with taking an important decision – to divide the country and create a new Muslim homeland: Pakistan. It was a decision whose consequences reverberate to this day. Meanwhile inside their house, Hindu guard Jeet Singh (Manish Dayal) is in love with the Muslim assistant to Edwina’s office, Aalia Noor (Huma Qureshi), daughter of a Muslim freedom fighter Ali Rahim Noor (Om Puri), while wondering if they can to have a life together in a divided nation. The young lovers find themselves caught up in the seismic end of Empire, in conflict with the Mountbatten family and with their own communities, but never ever giving up hope. As the largest displacement of people in history, the Partition of India forced the migration of 14 million citizens. Painting a portrait of two worlds in one nation, the film is confidently directed by Gurinder Chadha who delivers this epic story on an equally vast scale, featuring ravishing cinematography from Ben Smithard and a suitably lavish score by A. R. Rahman. Here, director Chadha confines her historical epic to the official residence of the final viceroy and it’s not all about the doings of state. The titular residence (shot in the maharajah’s palace in Jodhpur) bustles with staff from all corners of the subcontinent. Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims cook, guard, serve and, more than anything eavesdrop on the nabobs deliberating their future. If there’s one thing that this film does really well is that it captures the vibrant real-life locations of both the Viceroy of India’s residence and the streets of India. Filmed entirely on location, the grandeur of the main stage is fantastic to look at, whilst the costume design that ranges from Viceroy Mountbatten’s decorated military attire to the colorful uniforms and dress of the Indian people is central to the film’s more pleasant atmosphere. Here, Chadha balances the burden of historical accuracy with her skill of telling an engaging story and a desire to represent the period as she understands it. With a personal family connection to partition, she explores the specific moment in history ambitiously and with dedication, moving seamlessly between the sumptuous interiors of the house, pan outs to the wider context of an unraveling India and edited original footage of bloody riots and speeches. The film also investigates the idea of foreignness and its impact on the unfamiliar. Lord Mountbatten has been charged with an almost unbearable responsibility to complete an almost impossible challenge. Under the intense media presence, he has to face the uphill battle of drawing the opposing sides to the table including Jawaharlal Nehru, the future first Prime Minister of India, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder and future first Governor General of Pakistan and Mohandas Gandhi, the leader of the Indian independence movement. Understandably, Mountbatten finds the exceptional circumstances of the state of affairs ever more overpowering; the stalemated negotiations, the government interference, the burdensome protocol, the unknown culture, the intolerable atmosphere of summer heat and background noise. When deception and manipulation are discovered behind the scenes along with the rioting and fighting already breaking out in the streets across the country, Mountbatten accelerates the date for Indian independence to alleviate the violence but subsequently sacrifices the time allocated to the planning process. The house, now, the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the official home of the President of India), becomes an equally important personified character with its 340 rooms and 320 acre estate an overbearing omnipresence in the film and to the Viceroy.

Chadha who wrote the script with Paul Mayeda Berges and Moira Buffini also gets in a few sly comedic digs at the pompous grandeur of the British Raj as the newly arrived Dickie attempts to break in the two valets required to help him dress (just getting all his medals onto his uniform is a massive task) and Edwina gets a tour of the house, which makes Buckingham Palace look like a cozy cottage. But the filmmaker treats the Mountbattens themselves with respect, perhaps more than they deserve, even as their adventure in nation-building descends into the opposite of a white-savior story: they come across as decent, honorable people who want to do what’s best for the people India, whom they are well aware have not been treated well under colonialism. Although made to appeal to a widespread audience who may be unfamiliar with the whole story, Chadha does not hold back on the horrific violence which erupted amongst the people of India in a time of colossal political upheaval, weaving archive footage and fictional drama together to present an accurate depiction of the uncontrollable chaos. Chadha is also not afraid to tackle taboo topics, for example presenting one of the few negative portrayals of Churchill in his decision to divide India not for its own sake but to safeguard the interests of his own country, although a rumored closeness between Lady Mountbatten and Nehru is left untouched. That said, if you’re in the mood for a polemic about the creation of East and West Pakistan, you’ll be driven mad by the soapy stuff. It’s hard to ignore that Gurinder Chadha wants her latest film to be like Downton Abbey by upping the dramatic tension between the lead pair other than focusing on more interesting characters. So many films are stymied by the desire to make central characters “likeable”. That’s what has happened here. A supposedly heart-rending love story between two youngsters on Mountbatten’s staff (one Hindu, one Muslim), is similarly bloodless. Even the screenplay offers very little in the way of emotional or dramatic character depth, which means that the conflicts that arise don’t have any sort of power, and the directing is more focused on the visual aspect of the film, rather than giving it a solid pace and riveting atmosphere and that remains the case for almost the entire film, save for the very final act. If there’s one part of the film that does the gravity of the history justice, it’s right at the end. Luckily, the romantic storyline is a nice counterbalance to the larger political machinations and violent cultural struggles. The way it highlights the issues is rather heavy-handed, but Manish Dayal and Huma Qureshi are talented and charming enough to hold the audience’s attention, and where they go isn’t as obvious as it seems. Alongside them, Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson sparkle with wit, stirring some comic relief into even the most intense negotiations. They also nicely play their characters as people of compassion and empathy, a nice contrast to the callous self-interested British diplomats who don’t care who gets hurt in the fallout. Somewhere in between are well-meaning roles for acting icons Michael Gambon (as the chief of staff) and Simon Callow. In supporting roles, the late Om Puri, Terence Harvey, Darshan Jariwala, Lily Travers, Sarah-Jane Dias, Denzil Smith, Arunoday Singh, Jaz Deol, Neeraj Kabi and Tanveer Ghani shine. On the whole, ‘Viceroy’s House’ is a pleasant watch which despite being let down by its writing is delightful due to its central performances and vibrant visuals.