Viceroy's House

British-raised filmmaker Gurinder Chadha's fine historical drama is set in India during the chaotic weeks before the 1947 Partition. Having served as Viceroy of Burma, patrician Lord Louis Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) and his compassionate wife Edwina (Gillian Anderson) are dispatched to diplomatically conclude England's 300-year colonial rule, ceding power to India's new leaders. This is easier said than done because Mountbatten must decide whether to accede to the wishes of Mahatma Gandhi (Neeraj Kabi) and Jawaharal Nehru (Tanveer Ghani) for a pluralistic nation with a Hindu majority or heed the pleas of Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Denzil Smith) to partition India into two countries, establishing a Muslim-majority Pakistan. “Division doesn't create peace,” warns Gandhi. “It creates havoc.” During this tumult, Jeet (Manish Dayal), an ardent Hindu who arrives in Delhi to train as Mountbatten's valet, is smitten with Aalia (Huma Qureshi), a member of the Viceroy's household who is promised to a Muslim man chosen by her father (Om Puri). Their illicit romance serves as a microcosm of the far larger struggle, as violent carnage and suffering follow the sectarian displacement of more than 10 million people. Based on Narendra Singh Sarila's 2006 nonfiction book The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India's Partition, this is a poignant film that illuminates a fateful historical decision that continues to reverberate today. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include deleted scenes (9 min.). Bottom line: a small extras package for a solid historical drama.] (S. Granger)