Producers: Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Star Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi, Michael Gambon
Genre: Historic
Rating: **
Docu Style!
Lord Mountbatten, the final Viceroy of India, is given the duty to oversee the transition of a British owned India to an independent nation. But he faces conflict as people fight amongst themselves at this crucial time. It’s about how Nehru, Jinnah, and Gandhi – converge to wrangle over the birth of independent India and a decision is taken to divide the country and create Pakistan-a decision whose consequences reverberate to this day.
PLUS POINTS:
Making a film on the partition is a tricky undertaking, bound to invoke polarizing sentiments around the portrayal of each side The film relies heavily on a controversial book that claims Winston Churchill, who was well out of power, had already outlined plans to divvy up India in 1945, two years before The Partition. Huma Qureshi as Alia, sensitively conveys her character while Manish Dayal impresses. Om Puri is outstanding.
MINUS POINTS:
Set around the Viceroy’s household with noble-minded members of the family dealing with easily aggravated members of the staff; it plays out like the poor cousin of an uptight television drama. Brownton Abbey.
THE VERDICT:
The period film aptly captures the gamut of emotions at the end of the colonial rule, but its documentary-like approach may not appeal to the laymen.
-Jyothi Venkatesh
