Here’s the first poster and trailer for Viceroy’s House which sees X-Files star Gillian Anderson team up with Downton Abbey’s Earl of Grantham Hugh Bonneville.
In the movie, Bonneville plays Lord Mountbatten while Anderson plays his on-screen wife Lady Mountbatten alongside Lily Travers (Kingsman: The Secret Service) as their daughter, Pamela, Michael Gambon (Harry Potter’s Dumbledore) and Simon Callow (A Room With A View, Four Weddings and a Funeral) as key civil servants.
The Indian and Pakistani cast helmed by Manish Dayal (The Hundred Foot Journey), Huma Qureshi (Gangs of Wasseypur) and Om Puri (The Hundred Foot Journey, East Is East). The roles of the principal political leaders are played by Tanveer Ghani (Nehru), Denzil Smith (Jinnah) and Neeraj Kabi (Gandhi).
The movie tells the story of the final Viceroy to rule in India before the British Empire left the country and it became independent. When you watch the trailer you’ll see why Bonneville was cast in the lead role as he continues the authority and role that made him so popular in Downton Abbey. The movie not only looks at India’s independence but also the struggles faced to appease so many people with religion playing a huge part.
As you’ll see from the trailer below, the trailer shows just how beautiful a country India really is alongside their wonderful people but that alongside the struggles they’ve gone through for so many years. With practical sets and a wonderful cast, this is very much one we’re looking forward to it 2017.
Viceroy’s House is set for release in the UK 3rd March and is directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend it like Beckham).
Movie Trailer
Viceroy’s House Movie 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.
VICEROY’S HOUSE is a film that is both epic and intimate, with an inspirational message that celebrates tolerance. Many of the events depicted are either unknown or forgotten, but all have strong contemporary relevance in terms of lessons to be learnt concerning the politics of division and fear, the origins of religious extremism, and our moral responsibility towards migrants fleeing violence for a better life.
