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| Source: Vanity Fair |
I first watched this film in 2018 on a flight back to Dubai for my annual summer holiday trip. Okay, I'm not sure if I can actually say I watched it because it was while the plane was landing, I couldn't hear a single thing because the Emirates flight attendant had taken away the headsets, and I only caught maybe the first 10 minutes of the film. The first time I properly watched the film was on my flight back to Manchester from Dubai. The first ten minutes I caught was enough for me to attempt the film a second time, this time allowing for the whole film to be completed, and with a working pair of earphones. Truth be told, it gave me a new area of history to explore, one I never really saw as interesting enough to look further on Wikipedia. This is a bit strange to admit as a lover of the British Royal Family and its history. I enjoyed the film so much that I began looking for history texts to read, just so that I can learn more about Queen Victoria - so I found The Greedy Queen by Annie Grey, whose text was used for the film. I even found the original book the film was based on, written by Shrabani Basu, which was far more detailed.
The film begins in Agra, in British India, where we see a Muslim man, Abdul Karim, praying. This same man is seen walking to work; he works for a prison where he compiles a ledger of the prisoners' names. Abdul is later informed that he will be travelling with another Indian man, Mohammad Bakhsh, to Britain to present a ceremonial coin to Queen Victoria; along the way, Major Bigge explains to the Indian men the hierarchy of staff in the Queen's household. What I found rather amusing was their arrival in England; Major Bigge proclaims "Civilisation!" when they walk off the ship, to which Abdul and Mohammad look at each other while several beggars look at the gentlemen asking for money. I suppose this was an indication of how racial intolerance existed in the aristocracy: it was more civilised to be a poor white man than to be an Indian cleric. When Abdul and Mohammad are dressed in their new uniforms, Abdul points out to the tailor that a sash is not traditional, to which the tailor remarks that the paintings they copied from "didn't look very...Indian." I wouldn't be surprised if this was the actual mentality of many at the time, but it did feel rather infuriating anyway. I guess that was the intended effect.
The film begins in Agra, in British India, where we see a Muslim man, Abdul Karim, praying. This same man is seen walking to work; he works for a prison where he compiles a ledger of the prisoners' names. Abdul is later informed that he will be travelling with another Indian man, Mohammad Bakhsh, to Britain to present a ceremonial coin to Queen Victoria; along the way, Major Bigge explains to the Indian men the hierarchy of staff in the Queen's household. What I found rather amusing was their arrival in England; Major Bigge proclaims "Civilisation!" when they walk off the ship, to which Abdul and Mohammad look at each other while several beggars look at the gentlemen asking for money. I suppose this was an indication of how racial intolerance existed in the aristocracy: it was more civilised to be a poor white man than to be an Indian cleric. When Abdul and Mohammad are dressed in their new uniforms, Abdul points out to the tailor that a sash is not traditional, to which the tailor remarks that the paintings they copied from "didn't look very...Indian." I wouldn't be surprised if this was the actual mentality of many at the time, but it did feel rather infuriating anyway. I guess that was the intended effect.
The first scene featuring Queen Victoria, played by Dame Judi Dench, is probably my favourite scene in the film. As I've stated in previous posts, I love studying lifestyles and etiquette, so that was a check on my list watching this film. We see that as soon as the Queen begins her meal, the rest dining with her can begin; however, as soon as she finishes, the rest must stop as well. Unfortunately for Victoria's dining mates, she finishes her meals very quickly, and does not socialise while she eats, which the others do, meaning that by the time she has finished her meal, the rest are just barely beginning. I read once that because of how fast Queen Victoria ate, dining events often ended within half an hour. The kitchen staff and the footmen developed a system so that every time the Queen finished her food, the next course would be served promptly without fail. I wondered what was the reason behind this, so after doing a bit of digging, I understood that the Queen's gluttonous diet stemmed from the depression she suffered after the death of her husband, Prince Albert, and the speed at which her dinner events happened was a result of the Queen hating social events at that point. Makes sense. I'd probably do the same. At the end of the dinner, Abdul and Mohammad present the ceremonial coin to the Queen, who is taken by Abdul, remarking, "I thought the tall one was rather handsome."
Abdul and Mohammad are hired as the Queen's personal footmen for the entire of the Jubilee celebrations, but she becomes more enchanted by Abdul, who tells her stories of India's culture and history. He explains the origins of the Taj Mahal, built by a Mogul King for his beloved wife. He talks of the amazing Indian food that can be found: "Dal, rogan josh, biryani with mango chutney!" Poor Queen Victoria admits that she can never set foot on India because there is risk of her being assassinated, despite her curiosity. I read in the titular novel that Abdul had brought a number of spices, took over her royal kitchens, and prepared a variety of traditional Indian dishes for her, to the dismay of the rest of the household. Victoria's interest in Indian culture causes her to ask Abdul to teach her an Indian language, arguing that she should as Empress of India. Initially she asks him to teach her Hindi, but he tells her that it would be more fitting for her to learn Urdu: "You are the Empress of India. You should learn Urdu, language of the Mughals. There are a thousand languages in India, but Urdu is the most noble." I'm pretty sure many Indians might disagree on this point. With over a thousand languages in India, there's bound to be one who think a different language is superior to Urdu. Naturally, given that Abdul is Muslim, it's not too surprising why he would argue in favour of the language.
As Victoria's interest in Indian culture grows, so does her relationship with Abdul. Eventually she confides her struggles as Queen of England to him, and how lonely it is given that her husband is dead, her closest confidante (John Brown) is dead, and her children are all spoilt and ambitious. She questions what her purpose her life has anymore, to which Abdul explains from the Quran that people are on Earth to serve others. Learning that Abdul knows the Quran by heart, she removes his status of servitude in order for him to become her "Munshi." I found this rather controversial. As the head of the Church of England, one would question whether this status would come into question; however, Queen Victoria never showed any sign of converting to Islam, so her interest in the religion and Islamic culture remained simply an interest.
Throughout the film, a sense of uneasiness grows among the staff and with the Prince of Wales, Bertie. Shrabani Basu's novel writes about Victoria's lack of racial intolerance, and her hatred of such sentiments; yet she was the minority with this view. Her loyalty to Abdul might theoretically have inspired others to follow suit, yet Bertie, along with Victoria's private secretary and her personal physican, work to find any evidence that might incriminate Abdul in order to remove him from favour. When Victoria intends to bestow a knighthood upon Abdul in order for him to gain any level of respect at all, they threaten to declare her insane to remove her from power. Whether this actually happened in reality is a mystery to me, but given the racist sentiments of the time, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. However, when the new Prince of Wales, George, visited India between 1905-1906, he met with Abdul, who was wearing the medal of a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, one of the highest honours of the order. Yet the film shows that to even bestow a knighthood on an Indian was considered worthy of the household servants threatening to resign, as they believed it would tarnish the reputation of a knighthood. The idea of an Indian being given a title suggested that they would have to view him as an equal, which they did not believe.
Unfortunately, the only reason why Abdul did not have to worry about his newfound luxury of being so close to the Queen, and of being able to live in a nice house in England, was because he had Victoria's protection. In the film, Victoria warns Abdul that while she still has a few days left, he should go home because she would not be able to protect him when she dies, and there was no knowing what Bertie or the staff would do in her absence. True enough, when she does die, Bertie immediately sends staff to burn any evidence of correspondence between Victoria and Abdul to remove the idea that there was such a relationship at all. The reality was slightly different in that Bertie, or Edward VII as he would be at this point, had only called for correspondence between the Munshi and the Queen to be retrieved after he had been sent back to India, to which the Viceroy of India at the time had reacted negatively, insisting that the letters be returned. Thankfully, Abdul's diary and some of his correspondence with the Queen was hidden, and his family made the story public in 2010.
I love this movie. It's not amazing on a critical level, but it's at the very least a guilty pleasure film that I can enjoy lying in bed. It has a sad ending, but that was to be expected given the racialist sentiments of the time. Truth be told, I'm still going through Shrabani Basu's novel of the same name to learn more about Abdul's relationship with the Queen, which is far more detailed than the film can portray. Perhaps it is time to do some extra research on Indian history next ;)
Abdul and Mohammad are hired as the Queen's personal footmen for the entire of the Jubilee celebrations, but she becomes more enchanted by Abdul, who tells her stories of India's culture and history. He explains the origins of the Taj Mahal, built by a Mogul King for his beloved wife. He talks of the amazing Indian food that can be found: "Dal, rogan josh, biryani with mango chutney!" Poor Queen Victoria admits that she can never set foot on India because there is risk of her being assassinated, despite her curiosity. I read in the titular novel that Abdul had brought a number of spices, took over her royal kitchens, and prepared a variety of traditional Indian dishes for her, to the dismay of the rest of the household. Victoria's interest in Indian culture causes her to ask Abdul to teach her an Indian language, arguing that she should as Empress of India. Initially she asks him to teach her Hindi, but he tells her that it would be more fitting for her to learn Urdu: "You are the Empress of India. You should learn Urdu, language of the Mughals. There are a thousand languages in India, but Urdu is the most noble." I'm pretty sure many Indians might disagree on this point. With over a thousand languages in India, there's bound to be one who think a different language is superior to Urdu. Naturally, given that Abdul is Muslim, it's not too surprising why he would argue in favour of the language.
As Victoria's interest in Indian culture grows, so does her relationship with Abdul. Eventually she confides her struggles as Queen of England to him, and how lonely it is given that her husband is dead, her closest confidante (John Brown) is dead, and her children are all spoilt and ambitious. She questions what her purpose her life has anymore, to which Abdul explains from the Quran that people are on Earth to serve others. Learning that Abdul knows the Quran by heart, she removes his status of servitude in order for him to become her "Munshi." I found this rather controversial. As the head of the Church of England, one would question whether this status would come into question; however, Queen Victoria never showed any sign of converting to Islam, so her interest in the religion and Islamic culture remained simply an interest.
Throughout the film, a sense of uneasiness grows among the staff and with the Prince of Wales, Bertie. Shrabani Basu's novel writes about Victoria's lack of racial intolerance, and her hatred of such sentiments; yet she was the minority with this view. Her loyalty to Abdul might theoretically have inspired others to follow suit, yet Bertie, along with Victoria's private secretary and her personal physican, work to find any evidence that might incriminate Abdul in order to remove him from favour. When Victoria intends to bestow a knighthood upon Abdul in order for him to gain any level of respect at all, they threaten to declare her insane to remove her from power. Whether this actually happened in reality is a mystery to me, but given the racist sentiments of the time, I wouldn't be surprised if it did. However, when the new Prince of Wales, George, visited India between 1905-1906, he met with Abdul, who was wearing the medal of a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, one of the highest honours of the order. Yet the film shows that to even bestow a knighthood on an Indian was considered worthy of the household servants threatening to resign, as they believed it would tarnish the reputation of a knighthood. The idea of an Indian being given a title suggested that they would have to view him as an equal, which they did not believe.
Unfortunately, the only reason why Abdul did not have to worry about his newfound luxury of being so close to the Queen, and of being able to live in a nice house in England, was because he had Victoria's protection. In the film, Victoria warns Abdul that while she still has a few days left, he should go home because she would not be able to protect him when she dies, and there was no knowing what Bertie or the staff would do in her absence. True enough, when she does die, Bertie immediately sends staff to burn any evidence of correspondence between Victoria and Abdul to remove the idea that there was such a relationship at all. The reality was slightly different in that Bertie, or Edward VII as he would be at this point, had only called for correspondence between the Munshi and the Queen to be retrieved after he had been sent back to India, to which the Viceroy of India at the time had reacted negatively, insisting that the letters be returned. Thankfully, Abdul's diary and some of his correspondence with the Queen was hidden, and his family made the story public in 2010.
I love this movie. It's not amazing on a critical level, but it's at the very least a guilty pleasure film that I can enjoy lying in bed. It has a sad ending, but that was to be expected given the racialist sentiments of the time. Truth be told, I'm still going through Shrabani Basu's novel of the same name to learn more about Abdul's relationship with the Queen, which is far more detailed than the film can portray. Perhaps it is time to do some extra research on Indian history next ;)
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