To celebrate the upcoming 3 March release of new film Viceroy's House, director Gurinder Chadha visited us at Into Film HQ to speak about her new historical drama. Focusing on Lord Mountbatten's mansion in India and the local staff that worked there, Viceroy's House depicts the events that led to the partition of India, an event which reshaped the entire sub-continent and has its 70th anniversary this year.

Talking to our young reporter Nada in the video above, Chadha revealed her own personal connection to the film's story, the extensive research that went into the production, and discusses the film's unique British-Asian sensibility and some of the history surrounding Lord Mountbatten and the difficult choices he had to make.

Viceroy's House: Empire and Independence Resource

To help you further explore the issues in the film, we've created an inspirational, free educational resource, made in partnership with National Schools Partnership and Pathé, that uses the film to help young people aged 11-19 engage with the complexities that led to the creation of modern India and Pakistan as they commemorate the 70th anniversary of partition. 

This flexible resource, which supports History at Key Stage 3, units within exam boards for GCSE and A Level, and additional links to citizenship and SMSC, will connect students to a complex and significant moment in world history, 70 years on. It will enable students to gain knowledge of what happened in the run up to partition, along with the huge social impact it had.

In addition, everybody that downloads this resource will be entered into a competition to win free tickets to a screening of Viceroy's House followed by a Q&A with director Gurinder Chadha. Simply download the resource below and follow the instructions to be in with a chance of winning.

Screenings will be held between 3 - 11 March 2017, so be sure to download and enter as soon as you can!

Further Discussion

In a more extensive interview below, Chadha and Nada delve even deeper into the film, discussing everything from the decision to include an equal focus on the film's Asian characters, the role Winston Churchill and Gandhi may have played in the momentous events, and the film's striking contemporary relevance to issues like the refugee crisis and Brexit. Nada also reveals the powerful effect the film had on her.

Gillian Anderson talks Viceroy's House

Nada also spoke to actor Gillian Anderson, who plays the wife of Lord Mountbatten in the film, and who in the interview below discusses the new film, the history of India's partition, and challenges some of the preconceptions over Mountbatten's influence on events.