Project Detail

Viceroy's House

Synopsis

Viceroy’s House in Delhi was the home of the British rulers of India. After 300 years, that rule was coming to an end. For 6 months in 1947, Lord Mountbatten, great grandson of Queen Victoria, assumed the post of the last Viceroy, charged with handing India back to its people.
The film’s story unfolds within that great House. Upstairs lived Mountbatten together with his wife and daughter; downstairs lived their 500 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh servants. As the political elite; Nehru, Jinnah and Gandhi, converged on the House to wrangle over the birth of independent India, conflict erupted. A decision was taken to divide the country and create a new Muslim homeland: Pakistan. It was a decision whose consequences reverberate to this day.
The film examines these events through the prism of a marriage - that of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten, and a romance, that between a young Hindu servant, Jeet, and his intended Muslim bride, Aalia. The young lovers find themselves caught up in the seismic end of Empire, in conflict with the Mountbattens and with their own communities, but never ever giving up hope.
Official Selection Berlinale 2017 - Out of Competition - World premiere

Details

Year
2017
Type of film
Features
Running time
106 mins
Director
Gurinder Chadha
Producer
Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, Deepak Nayar
Executive Producer
Cameron McCracken, Christine Langan, Shibasish Sarkar, Natascha Wharton, Tim O’Shea
Editor
Valerio Bonelli, Victoria Boydell
Screenwriter
Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges, Moira Buffini
Director of Photography
Ben Smithard
Production Designer
Laurence Dorman
Principal cast
Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi, Om Puri, Simon Callow, Michael Gambon, Tanveer Ghani, Denzil Smith, Neeraj Kabi, Lily Travers, Jaz Deol, Sarah-Jane Dias

Categories

Production Status

Production Company

UK, India coproduction

Pathé (UK), Reliance (IN), BBC Films (UK), Ingenious (UK) and BFI (UK) presentation of a Bend It Films/Deepak Nayar Production in association with the FilmVäst (SE) and Filmgate Films (SE).

BBC Films

BBC Broadcasting House
7th Floor, Zone A
Portland Place
London
W1A 1AA

Bend It Films

2nd Floor
130 Shaftesbury Avenue
London
W1D 5EU

Sales Company

Page updates

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Viceroy's House Viceroy's House

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Viceroy’s House in Delhi was the home of the British rulers of India. After 300 years, that rule was coming to an end. For 6 months in 1947, Lord Mountbatten, great grandson of Queen Victoria, assumed the post of the last Viceroy, charged with handing India back to its people.<br /> The film’s story unfolds within that great House. Upstairs lived Mountbatten together with his wife and daughter; downstairs lived their 500 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh servants. As the political elite - Nehru, Jinnah and Gandhi - converged on the House to wrangle over the birth of independent India, conflict erupted. A decision was taken to divide the country and create a new Muslim homeland: Pakistan. It was a decision whose consequences reverberate to this day.<br /> Official Selection Berlinale 2017 - Out of Competition - World premiere