DVD: Victoria & Abdul
Reviewed by: Samantha Keogh
Review made possible by: Empire Entertainment
When it comes to films detailing Queen Victoria’s gentlemen friends it seems that Dame Judi Dench is always the actress to portray the feisty queen, and with good reason.
As she did in Mrs Brown, Dench maintains the dignity of the queen’s role in society while still allowing the viewer a glimpse into the nuances of the queen’s personality and her various relationships – both with her family and her friends.
As a fan of Dench, I expected an excellent movie and that is exactly what she has given the viewer.
The movie revolves around her real-life fascination and friendship with Abdul Karim, a young prison clerk from Agra, India.
Tall and handsome, Abdul was just 24 years old when he arrived in England to wait at tables for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee.
Taking an immediate liking to him, and thinking him rather good looking from the moment she sets eyes on him, she delays his return to India to have him teach her about India.
Within a year, Abdul had grown to become a powerful figure at court, the Queen’s teacher (Munshi), her counsel (Urdu) a friend close to her heart.
“I am so very fond of him,” Queen Victoria is said to have written in 1888.
“He is so good and gentle and understanding … a real comfort to me.”
History records this as the beginning of the most scandalous decade in Queen Victoria’s long reign.
Devastated first by the death of Prince Albert in 1861 and then her personal servant John Brown in 1883, Queen Victoria quickly found joy in this intense and controversial relationship with her Munshi, who travelled everywhere with her, cooked her curries and cultivated her understanding of the Indian sub-continent.
An empress of India, this was a region she was intrigued by but could never visit and Karim offered her a first-hand account of the country, its people, culture, languages and food bring delight to the elderly monarch in her final days.
The film is drawn from the book of the same name by Shrabani Basu who drew much of his information from never before seen first-hand documents that had been closely guarded secrets for a century to offer an intriguing film about a woman often depicted in statues and portraits as rather joyless and unsmiling.
Victoria & Abdul chronicles the last years of her life, offering a glimpse into English court life at the close of the 19th century.
Dench and Ali Fazal, who plays Karim, are brilliant in this historical drama which is well-worth a watch.
Also read: DVD review: Annabelle Creation
