Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson, Manish Dayal, Huma Qureshi, Om Puri
Directed by: Gurinder Chadha
Rating: **** ½(4 and a half stars)
At the end of Gurinder Chadha’s breatakingly beautiful parable on political propensity , we are told that the director’s grandmother was one of thousands of victims of the savagery that followed the Partition of India into two sloppy badly-cut halves.
Thankfully 1947 :Partition (Viceroy’s House in English) is neither sloppy nor badly cut. Far from it. There is a delicacy and exquisiteness to the storytelling missing in Gurinder Chadha’s recent works specially the hideous It’s A Wonderful Afterlife.
And yes this tale of history’s anomalies is also whodunit. Winston Churchill did it. He was responsible for the Partition of India.
There, I said it. Gurinder Chadha agrees.
There is a wonderful after-glow to this tale that lingers long after it is over. Hugely verbose and yet not the least weighed down by the constant exchange of political rhetorics, this is a film that revels in the its tender moments as much as in its power subcontinental message on what happens to a nation when it is divided by the supposedly enlightened Colonists called in to save humanity from damnation.
The elegantly-crafted saga unfolds on two levels of political intrigue. On one level we have Lord Mountbatten(the judiciously cast Hugh Bonneville) and his sagacious wife Lady Edwina(Gillian Anderson) arriving in India to sort out the mess that the Britishers have created over 300 years. On the other native level, a fantasty-fuelled romance unfolds between a Hindu orderly Jeet(Manish Dayal) and a Muslim girl Alia(Huma Qureshi) working for theMountbattens.They have a history. So does the film.
While the map-changing politics of the Mountbattens conveys a certain strength and power of its own, it is the Alia-Jeet love story that had me gripped. The idea of love during times of ravage and war is very David Leanish. That Chadha manages to pull it off is entirely due to her closeness to the trauma that defined India’s division into two messy halves. Yet, Chadha is able to pull back from the trauma and give it a hue of dispassionate humour and warmth.And yes, also a feeling of political correctness.
The film is superbly shot by cinematographer Ben Smithard whose lenses explore the wide vistas not for impressive visuals but to seek out the human face of a political tragedy so immense that it continues to resonate on the politics of the two countries.
One of the many pleasures of watching Gurinder Chadha’s Partition tale—easily her best work since the career-defining Bend It LikeBeckham—is to take in the talented cast’s character-assuming expertise . Hugh Bonneville lacks the magnetic charm of the real Mountbatten. But he more than makes up for it with his understanding of the anguished dilemma that Mountbatten went through.
But it’s Gillian Anderson’s Edwina Mountbatten who in many ways, holds the plot together. As played by this accomplished actress Edwina comes across as compassionate, caring and politically well-informed.
In brief the perfect Lady Mountbatten.
Can’t express the same level of satisfaction watching the actors playing distinguished political leaders . Specially disappointing is the usually-brilliant Neeraj Kabi’s hammy Mahatma Gandhi. Every time he opened his mouth I squirmed. Made me miss Darshan Jariwala’s Gandhi in Feroz Abbas Khan’s film. Darshan by the way, has a minuscule role in this film suffused with characters who walk in and out of a crisis that not even God could resolve.
Om Puri in a relatively minor role is , his usual impressive self(God, how we miss him!). But among the Indian actors it is Manish Dayaland Huma Qureshi who stand out with their supple interpretation of love over the religious divide. This is Huma’s best performance to date.
Chadha is specially skilled at putting forward the sudden flare-ups of temper among Mountbatten’s staff .Specially shocking is Muslim staff member spitting on and hitting his elderly White senior. Chadha sees the tragic waste of the Partition in such incidents.She waltzes over the welters of history’s lessons creating a fabulous pastiche of pain and passion without tripping over into either emotional condition.
This is a history lesson well served and waiting to be seen.

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Pink Director’s Next Featuring Yami As A Crime Reporter To Stream From February 16

Anniruddha Roy Chowdhury whose Pink featuring Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu was one of the most important films of 2016, is all set to release his next Hindi film.
Entitled Lost, Anniruddha’s film , based on true events, will see Yami Gautam Dhar(that’s what the actress calls herself after her marriage) as a crime journalist. LOST is an emotional social thriller that represents a higher quest, a search for lost values of empathy and integrity.
Inspired by true events, Lost is a story of a bright young woman crime reporter in her relentless search for the truth behind the sudden disappearance of a young theatre activist.

Lost
Says Aniruddha “The shoot of LOST has been an incredible journey. I have been eager for the release of our hard-worked venture. The film is a realistic highlight of media in a social context and I am sure that it will give the audience a compelling watch. I am curious about its release and see the responses it shall get. I hope they will welcome it with open hearts.”
Yami Gautam Dhar who plays the lead of the crime reporter says, “I can’t be happier and more proud of the film’s selection for the opening night at CSAFF. I feel like its one that the people will connect to and will be the one that you cannot miss, especially in the current age and time. I have loved playing this role because it was such a special experience, it allowed me to explore so many layers of emotions as an actor and the entire team has worked really hard on it. I genuinely cannot wait for the film’s release, especially to see the reactions of the audience to it.”
The crime investigation drama boasts a stellar cast. Along with Yami, the film will feature Pankaj Kapur, Rahul Khanna, and an ensemble of younger talent, including Neil Bhoopalam, Pia Bajpai, and Tushar Pandey, in pivotal roles.
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Jamuna Had A Love-Hate Relationship With Bollywood

Veteran Telugu actress Jamuna who passed away on Friday, shared an uneasy relationship with the Hindi film industry.She did eleven Hindi films including the iconic Milan in 1967 where Jamuna agreed to play the second lead, or the supporting role if you will, to Nutan.
Jamuna as Gauri was the Other Woman who craved for the hero Sunil Dutt’s attention whereas he had eyes and devotion only for Nutan. In later years Aruna Irani played a similar role in Caravan.
In Milan Jamuna was not keen to do a supporting role. Producer L V Prasad tempted her with three chartbusting songs. Besides, Jamuna had played the same role in Mooga Manasulu, the Telugu original of Milan. But it was the songs composed by Laxmikant-Pyarelal which convinced Jamuna to take up the second lead in Milan.
While Nutan had no solo songs in Milan, she did have the chartbuster duet Sawan ka mahina . Jamuna on the other hand, had two splendid Lata Mangeshkar solos: Tohey saawariya naahin khabariya and the magnificent Ghazal Aaj dil pe koi zor chalta nahin.Not only these, Jamuna also had a hit duet with Mukesh based on her character Gauri: Bol Gauri bol tera kaun piya.
But then, fate intervened. After the film released one of Jamuna’s solos, the poignant and memorable Aaj dil pe koi zor chalta nahin was snipped out of the film.
Here is what happened: the Ghazal , one of Lataji’s all-time greats, was very much a part of Milan when it released on 17 March 1967. But then it was seen to hamper the flow of the film and edited out. The beautiful song occurred right after intermission. Producer Prasad, a shrewd filmmaker, got to know that audiences prolonged their loo breaks as there was a song after the break. Hence the sacrifice of a seriously sonorous melody.
Jamuna hardly did Hindi films after Milan. Her last Bollywood appearance was in Raj Kumar Kohli’s Raj Tilak where she was lost in a multistarrer as the royal queen.
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Karan Johar Moves Alia Song From Switzerland To Kashmir

The romantic duet in Karan Johar’s Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahaani which was to be shot in Switzerland and which was delayed due to the film’s leading lady Alia Bhatt’s motherhood, is now being relocated to Kashmir.
Purely out of the love for new mom Alia.
Says a source in the know, “Karan loves Alia like his own daughter. He would do anything for her. He postponed the release of Rocky Aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani as the love duet could not be shot before Alia’s maternity leave. Karan had decided to shoot the song in Switzerland after Alia’s maternity love. But now he has relocated the song to Kashmir as Alia doesn’t want to leave her baby girl behind for long stretches.”
And as Karan Johar argued, snow is snow. How does it matter whether it is Switzerland or Kashmir?
This song would be Karan Johar’s tribute to his idol Yash Chopra. Alia would be dressed in chiffon sarees while Ranveer, for a change, would be seen in formals.
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Bobby Deol’s Switchover To Villainous Roles

After Prakash Jha’s webseries Ashram where Bobby played a sleazy godman, and Love Hostel where he was a ruthless assassin, he is playing the villain to Ranbir Kapoor in Sandeep Vanga’s Animal.
Bobby says it is not conscious career decision to play negative characters but a conscious decision to play interesting characters. “ I don’t look at characters as positive or negative.When I watch films there is always one character that stays with you. I want to play that character.”
Prakash Jha’s Ashram proved a gamechanger for Bobby. He admits finding challenging roles is tough. “I am trying. I am doing Sandeep Vanga’s Animal with Ranbir Kapoor , Parineeti Chopra. Then I am doing the family film Apne 2 which I am very excited about.”
In an earlier interview with this writer Bobby spoke about his long absence from screen before Prakash Jha’s Ashram. “My fans would ask why I wasn’t being seen on the screen.And I couldn’t tell them it was because I wasn’t getting good roles. But my fans stood by me. They gave me the strength to keep looking for the right roles. Thankfully I found the roles I liked. My new films have given me some new fans. I am thankful I am still here. Yeah , I am in a good space right now.”
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