Tropic Sprockets / Viceroy’s House

By Ian Brockway

“Viceroy’s House” by Gurinder Chadra (Bend It Like Beckham) is a handsome but staid portrait of India’s struggle for independence during 1947. Tensions are rising in India and Lord Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) is essentially summoned as the last viceroy, to give India her freedom.

Mountbatten is lightly condescending to the Indian people but also cares about the vibrant and diverse country. Still, one gets the feeling that he witnesses all from a high tower and does not know what it is really like to be Indian. He has servants and orders his suits to be brushed and cleaned to spotless condition. If the servants cause him to be late, he takes out a stopwatch and makes a note of it.

It is Lady Mountbatten (Gillian Anderson) who is truly passionate about the people of India. When a dignitary couple visits, the wife says of its people, “They always get a bit too close to me.” In reply, Lady Mountbatten orders them to leave. She also wants conditions in the country to improve. ” It’s what is to be our legacy,” says Mountbatten. “We can’t have them starve.”Â

In the film there is a lot of dialogue behind closed doors, diplomacy and tea. Mountbatten pores over volumes and studies, becoming more and more anxious.

Jeet (Manish Dayal) is a former policeman turned servant with matinee idol looks. He is smitten with the beautiful Aalia (Huma Qureshi) who of course pretends he doesn’t exist. Though it is easy to see why Jeet is in love (Aalia is gorgeous) we don’t really know much about the two of them, aside from the fact that Jeet took care of Aalia’s dad (played by the iconic Indian actor Om Puri).  The romance is not compelling or connected and feels formulaic.

The actor Neeraj Kabi reprises his role of Gandhi as he did in a 2014 Indian docudrama. In his beloved homespun, Ghandi visits Mountbatten to state his case that India must not be partitioned and once more, Kabi plays the famous leader perfectly.Â

The Punjabi singer Hans Raj Hans does a exuberant and colorful song in one party scene to liven up the hushed tones, and one pines for more.

There is much information about the partition of India and the violence that it produced across religious lines, in what was no doubt a dark time.

The only miscue is that the film feels remote with Bonneville and Anderson striking such a lukewarm tone. This conventional rhythm combined with a standard Bollywood-style romance, makes “Viceroy’s House” more of an informative serial than an epic story of India’s turbulent birth.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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