A Late Review of the Banned Movie, Viceroy’s House

Some movies/dramas take us back to the past days showing us the real miseries, struggles and passion with which our forefathers achieved the dream of Pakistan.

“PARTITION 1947”, A Gurinder Chadha film, internationally released as Viceroy’s House on 18th August, 2017, is one of those.

Also Read: Review of Punjab Nahi Jaungi

The film is based on Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India. It also features the story of  Jeet who falls in love with Alia, and the resulting consequences of their love.

The film was released in August – the month of independence for both Pakistan and India. August was perhaps chosen as the release month to trigger the enthusiasm and emotional response of the people of both the countries.

Unfortunately, the film didn’t get the expected praise, the reason being the repetition of the topic with no extraordinary content added, that would’ve brought about the anticipated enthusiasm.

As mentioned above, the main purpose of such kind of films is to portray the history with expressions. But this film fails to tell the facts, damages and conflicts attributed to the partition of the sub-continent.

Moreover, the love story shown in the film adds nothing to the main agenda.

People had a great problem with the characters and their resemblance to the real heroes, Quaid-e-Azam’s character being on top of the list. It was said that his character was misrepresented and it adds to the very reason for its ban in Pakistan.

On this, the producer tweeted,

“Major reason of producing  such films is to portray real story and major heroes that fought for the separate lands and their struggles and sacrifices. How civil war started the miseries,  losses, migrations of people. How relatives were separated from each other and met after a long procession of time. They didn’t get a last glimpse of their beloved ones who died during civil war and migration. How the 2 nations faced difficulties in new setup.”

In a nutshell, the film is a tale of pain and misery, aimed at winning the hearts of the audiences. There is no doubt that a  lot of effort went into creating, Viceroy’s House. However, a tighter narrative and objectivity could have made it a better watch.