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Stephen Frears<\/a>\u2019 period drama Victoria and Abdul<\/em><\/a> about an unlikely friendship at the heart of the British monarchy, set at the end of the 1800s, is as topical now as it was controversial back then, with prejudices threatening unity between races. Frears tackles this by ramping up the pomp and circumstance to the point of absurdity that the story has plenty of highly hilarious moments and reactions to those events.<\/p>\n These circus scenarios buffer the real tragedy of a desperate need for human connection. Queen Victoria to many commoners appeared to have the world at her feet. Her Indian attendant Abdul Karim acts as the \u2018whistleblower\u2019 showing there was more life outside of the confines of the royal household. This is the story\u2019s aching heart that beats through the delightful frivolity.<\/p>\n Returning as Victoria \u2013 after Mrs Brown<\/em><\/a> (1997), Judi Dench<\/a> knows her queen very well, stepping into an older version of her character with ease and empathy for Victoria\u2019s \u2018caged bird\u2019 existence. Although not \u2018funny\u2019 in herself, Dench\u2019s po-faced performance as Victoria, especially at yet another formal meal is the stuff of great British cinema. Dench forever commands authority on screen and captives her audience, like many of her characters, including M from the Bond movies. As with the former, Dench is a master at breaking down her character\u2019s stony fa\u00e7ade to let the real human being inside shine through, piece by piece, as she does here.<\/p>\n This witty and energetic romp \u2013 that plays with historic facts somewhat \u2013 is even funnier, thanks to the supporting cast of scheming, bigoted \u2018fools\u2019, played by Eddie Izzard<\/a> as Victoria\u2019s son Bertie, Paul Higgins<\/a> as Dr Reid, Tim Pigott-Smith<\/a> as Sir Henry Ponsonby and Olivia Williams<\/a> as Lady Churchill. These big screen and stage players are utterly brilliant as they try to cling onto the formalities of the crown that have seen them pampered, all the while reflecting the prejudice against other races and religions that speaks volumes today.<\/p>\n Adeel Akhtar<\/a> of Four Lions<\/em><\/a> fame expertly delivers his own brand of po-faced scorn at the whole fiasco that faces him on privileged British soil, contrasting delightfully with Ali Fazal<\/a>\u2019s Abdul\u2019s child-like wonder at the new opportunities his \u2018servant\u2019 position brings and in turn \u2018wakes\u2019 the queen from her royal sleepwalk. Frears initially paints these two as \u2018fish out of water\u2019 in the opulence of 19th<\/sup> century England, like an Indian Laurel and Hardy. However, as the story unfolds, they adapt and become the sanity (and breath of fresh air) that Victoria craves; in fact the voices of reason. It is another dig at the royal establishment by Frears who admits he is a Republican, but he obviously is still sentimental towards the queen \u2013 as per his 2006 film The Queen<\/em><\/a> that won Helen Mirren<\/a> an Oscar.<\/p>\n Victoria and Abdul<\/em> is enchanting British drama, blending laughter and sadness that once again, cements Dench\u2019s mastery in such roles, even if it bends the historic truth.<\/p>\n 4\/5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n By @Filmgazer<\/p>\n