Viceroy's House: Hugh Bonneville stars in our exclusive new clip

‘Bend It Like Beckham’ director Gurinder Chadha’s new film ‘Viceroy’s House’ debuted at the Berlin Film Festival over the weekend where it was praised for its “streak of subversive humour“, with one critic calling it “Chadha’s most ambitious film to date, and her best in a long time.”

We’re genuinely thrilled to share an exclusive new clip featuring Hugh Bonneville and Manish Dayal from the film which opens in UK cinemas on 3 March.

Set in 1947 during the handover of power in India from the British government back to the Indian people, ‘Viceroy’s House’ was the name given to the home of the British rulers and the film tells the story of Lord Mountbatten’s time as the last Viceroy of India.

Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) was on a tight schedule charged with handing India back to its people. As we see in the clip, he tasks his ‘new boy’ personal valet Jeet (Manish Dayal) to dress him in his ceremonial uniform in less than two minutes… a task easier said than done.

Official synopsis: Viceroy’s House in Delhi was the home of the British rulers of India. After 300 years, that rule was coming to an end. For 6 months in 1947, Lord Mountbatten, great grandson of Queen Victoria, assumed the post of the last Viceroy, charged with handing India back to its people.

The film’s story unfolds within that great House. Upstairs lived Mountbatten together with his wife and daughter; downstairs lived their 500 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh servants. As the political elite – Nehru, Jinnah and Gandhi – converged on the House to wrangle over the birth of independent India, conflict erupted. A decision was taken to divide the country and create a new Muslim homeland: Pakistan. It was a decision whose consequences reverberate to this day.

The film is deeply personal to the director, whose own family was caught up in the tragic events that unfolded as British rule came to an end. Her film examines these events through the prism of a marriage – that of Dickie and Edwina Mountbatten – and a romance – that between a young Hindu servant, Jeet, and his intended Muslim bride, Aalia. The young lovers find themselves caught up in the seismic end of Empire, in conflict with the Mountbattens and with their own communities, but never ever giving up hope.

As well as the new clip, Pathe released two new posters for ‘Viceroy’s House’ that you can see below.

‘Viceroy’s House’ is in cinemas 3 March.

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