Victoria & Abdul

Abdul Karim arrived in Britain from Agra for the Golden Jubilee in 1888 and spent fourteen years teaching the Queen Urdu. Victoria raised him to Munshi, meaning secretary, and the household despised it. The real story sits in the archive. After Victoria died, the royal household destroyed most of Karim's papers and correspondence, which is why the relationship went untraceable for decades. Shrabani Basu built her book on documents that resurfaced later, and the film comes from that book. Judi Dench plays Victoria for the second time, after Mrs Brown in 1997, with Ali Fazal as Karim. It grossed 66.6 million dollars worldwide and picked up Oscar nominations for costume design and makeup. The criticism it drew is fair. The film softens the colonial question and never gives Karim the interiority it gives Victoria. His own point of view takes up far less room than her loneliness does. Who it is for: people who buy a ticket to watch Dench, and anyone who enjoys court intrigue. Who it is not for: viewers expecting a serious reckoning with British India.