Directed by Gurinder Chadha, Viceroy’s House is the new historical drama set during the Partition of India in 1947. Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson play Viceroy Lord Mountbatten and his wife Lady Mountbatten, who took up residence at the house to oversee the British hand over control of the country after 300 years of colonial rule. The story centres around the microcosm of life within the house, and a Romeo and Juliet-style romance between muslim Jeet and hindu Aaila (Manish Dayal and Huma Qureshi), as a representation of the emotional turmoil and displacement caused by the policy of siphoning off a Muslim majority Pakistan from the rest of the country. We spoke to Chadha on the red carpet at the Curzon Mayfair for the premiere screening of the movie about why she wanted to put this period of history on the big screen.
