Gurinder Chadha’s handsome and heartfelt end-of-Empire drama stars Hugh Bonneville as Lord Mountbatten, the last viceroy installed in the titular Delhi house to oversee Britain’s peaceful withdrawal from India in 1947.
While Mountbatten and those in the corridors of power – including Michael Gambon’s General Hastings Ismay and Simon Callow’s Cyril Radcliffe – debate the fate of an entire nation, downstairs in the servants’ quarters romance is tentatively blossoming between Hindu valet Jeet (Manish Dayal) and Muslim lady in waiting Aalia (Huma Qureshi).
Gillian Anderson is reliably excellent as Mountbatten’s progressive-minded wife Lady Edwina.
Viceroy’s House – from Sunday 28 January on Sky Cinema Premiere and Sky Cinema on demand.
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