Victorian and nAbdul
starring Judi Dench, Ali Fazal, Eddie Izzard, Adeel Akhtar, Paul Higgins and Michael Gambon
screenplay by Lee Hall
directed by Stephen Frears
Rating: ♦♦♦♦♦
The film is based on the book of same name by Shrabani Basu, about the real-life relationship between Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her Indian Muslim servant and confidant, Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal). I’d never heard this story before, so I was interested to see the film. The close relationship between the Queen and Abdul during the last years of her life apparently caused so much consternation at court that upon her death in 1901 her son, King Edward VII, quickly sent Abdul and his family back to India, but not before confiscating and destroying as much material as possible - letters and photographs, etc. - that witnessed Abdul’s existence and the Queen’s relationship with him. Apparently, his story was rediscovered in 1951, and throughout the 1960s Abdul began to receive more scholarly attention from the perspective of his influence on her and on British policy towards the Indian subcontinent. Like I said, I had never heard anything about this.
Abdul arrived in England during Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee (1897) to present her with a memorial gold coin. She quickly took a liking to him and he became a feature at court. The Jubilee celebrations showcased Victoria’s role as “mother” of the British Empire and its Dominions. The film plays with many interesting racist and class themes, not to mention the history of the Great Queen of the greatest empire at the peak of its power and glory. In the final years of her life she was an increasingly frail and isolated person, and the closeness she shared with Abdul was not appreciated, well regarded, or even understood.