STARRING HUGH BONNEVILLE, GILLIAN ANDERSON, OM PURI, MANISH DAYAL, HUMA QURESHI & SIR MICHAEL GAMBON
London, 1st September 2015
Reliance Entertainment and Pathé announced that principal photography started on Sunday 30 August on VICEROY’S HOUSE. The film will shoot for 8 weeks in Jodhpur, India.
VICEROY’S HOUSE will be directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend it like Beckham) from a screenplay by Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges and Moira Buffini.
British cast are led by Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey, Paddington) as Lord Mountbatten; Gillian Anderson (The X Files, House of Mirth) as his wife, Lady Mountbatten; Lily Travers (Kingsman) as their daughter, Pamela; and Sir Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, Quartet) and Simon Callow (A Room With A View, Four Weddings and a Funeral) as key civil servants.
The Indian and Pakistani cast are led by Manish Dayal (The Hundred Foot Journey), Huma Qureshi (Gangs of Wasseypur) and Om Puri (The Hundred Foot Journey, East Is East). The roles of the principal political leaders are played by Tanveer Ghani (Nehru), Denzil Smith (Jinnah) and Neeraj Kabi (Gandhi)
Viceroy’s House in Delhi was the home of the British rulers of India.
For 6 months in 1947, Lord Mountbatten assumed the post of the last Viceroy, charged with handing India back to its people.
Mountbatten lived upstairs together with his wife and daughter. Downstairs lived their 500 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh servants.
Against this turbulent backdrop, the personal and the political became deeply entwined and a decision was taken that continues to reverberate through history.
The film is produced by Deepak Nayar (Bend it like Beckham, The End of Violence, Buena Vista Social Club), Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges. The film is executive produced by Pathã Cameron McCracken, Reliance Entertainment’s Shibasish Sarkar, BBC Films’ Christine Langan, the BFIs Ben Roberts and Ingenious Media’s Tim OShea.
The film is a Pathé, Reliance Entertainment, BBC Films, Ingenious and BFI presentation of a Bend It Films/Deepak Nayar Production in association with the FilmVast and Filmgate Films.
Pathé will distribute the film in the UK and France and will handle sales throughout the rest of the world. Reliance Entertainment will distribute the film in India.
For further information contact:
Sophie Glover, Head of Publicity, Pathé UK
Sophie.glover@pathe-uk.com / 020 7462 4415
Kate Lee, Freuds
kate@freuds.com
ABOUT Pathé
Pathé operates as a fully integrated studio and has a presence in France, the UK, the Netherlands and Switzerland. It is involved in all aspects of filmmaking, from development and production through to international sales, distribution and exhibition.
Films produced/distributed by Pathã range from THE QUEEN to SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and from THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY to THE IRON LADY and PHILOMENA. Most recently Pathe has produced/distributed Matthew Warchus PRIDE, Ava DuVernay’s SELMA and the forthcoming SUFFRAGETTE directed by Sarah Gavron.
In recent years Pathé’s productions have won 15 BAFTAs (61 nominations) and 13 Oscars (44 nominations).
Pathé International handles the international marketing and sales of Pathé’s own productions and also acquires third party films for worldwide representation. As one of Europe’s leading sales agents, Pathé International has a significant presence at all major film markets and festivals.
www.pathe.co.uk
Twitter @patheuk
ABOUT RELIANCE ENTERTAINMENT
Reliance Entertainment is part of India’s Reliance Group, and has a significant presence in filmed entertainment, radio and TV broadcasting, new media ventures and state-of-the-art globally integrated film and media services.
Internationally, Reliance Entertainment has partnered with legendary producer-director, Steven Spielberg, in the formation of DreamWorks Studios to produce films for global audiences. The Help, War Horse, Lincoln and Hundred Foot Journey are some of the recent films produced by DreamWorks Studios, receiving wide critical and popular acclaim.
The Reliance Group is led by Chairman Anil D. Ambani, and is amongst India’s largest business houses, with interests in telecommunications, energy, defense, financial services, infrastructure, and media and entertainment.
Twitter @relianceent
ABOUT BBC FILMS
BBC Films is at the forefront of independent filmmaking in the UK, developing and co-producing around twelve films a year. Headed up by Christine Langan, BBC Films was awarded the Michael Balcon BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema in 2015.
Recent releases include Bill Condon’s drama Mr. Holmes; Rufus Norris London Road; Ben Pal-mers romantic comedy Man Up; Thomas Vinterberg’s Far from the Madding Crowd, Alan Rickman’s A Little Chaos, Carol Morleys The Falling, Simon Curtis Woman in Gold, Saul Dibb’s Suite Franaise, and Morgan Matthews X Y.
Upcoming releases include Nicholas Hytner’s comedy drama The Lady in the Van starring Maggie Smith; and John Crowley’s romantic drama Brooklyn starring Saoirse Ronan.
BBC Films eclectic back catalogue includes Pride, Saving Mr. Banks, Philomena, Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa, My Week with Marilyn, We Need To Talk About Kevin, Jane Eyre, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Made in Dagenham, An Education, In the Loop, Fish Tank, My Summer of Love, Truly Madly Deeply, and Billy Elliot.
bbc.co.uk/bbcfilms
Twitter @BBCFilms
THE BFI
With over ₹30 million of Lottery funding to invest each year, the BFI is the UK’s largest public investor in UK film, and the BFI Film Fund supports first-class British filmmaking from emerging and established filmmaking talent through production, developing new opportunities for audiences to see films, and exporting films to audiences worldwide.
Highly anticipated films backed by the BFI include Sarah Gavrons Suffragette, recently an-nounced as the opening night film for this years BFI London Film Festival and featuring a stellar cast including Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter and Meryl Streep; Ben Wheatley’s High Rise; Terence Davies Sunset Song which has been selected World and European premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival and San Sebastian respectively; John Michael McDonagh’s War On Everyone; Andrea Arnold’s American Honey; Philippa Lowthorpe’s Swallows and Amazons; Colm McCarthy’s She Who Brings Gifts; and Pete Travis’ City of Tiny Lights.
Films supported by the BFI Film Fund which have recently screened at international film fes-tivals include Sean McAllister’s A Syrian Love Story, winner of the Grand Jury prize at Shef-field Doc/Fest; Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster which premiered In Competition at Cannes; Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years which premiered in competition at Berlin Film Festival where it won two Silver Bear awards and is set for UK release on 28 August; Scott Graham’s BI which screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival; John Maclean’s Slow West, John Crowley’s Brooklyn, Louise Osmond’s Dark Horse and Jerry Rothwell’s How to Change the World which all premiered at Sundance .
The BFI is the lead organisation for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by:
Connecting audiences to the widest choice of British and World cinema
Preserving and restoring the most significant film collection in the world for
today and future generations
Investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work
Promoting British film and talent to the world
Growing the next generation of film makers and audiences
www.bfi.org.uk/filmfund
ABOUT INGENIOUS
Ingenious is the leading independent investor in the UK’s creative industries, founded by Patrick McKenna in 1998.
Ingenious Investments is the manager of a wide range of businesses spanning the media & entertainment, clean energy and real estate sectors.
Ingenious Corporate Finance provides comprehensive advice on strategy across a wide range of transactions focusing particularly on the media and entertainment sectors.
Ingenious Asset Management provides discretionary investment management solutions to private investors.
For further information, please visit www.theingeniousgroup.co.uk