‘VICTORIA LEARNT URDU FOR 13 YEARS’
Author Shrabani Basu says how she unveiled the monarch no one knew
Shrabani Basu, the author of Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant, which was later transformed into the 2017 Hollywood film titled Victoria & Abdul, says she feels both her book and the film helped unveil new traits of Queen Victoria’s character to the world.
“A lot of people have come to me in England and said they had no idea that Queen Victoria took formal lessons in Urdu,” Basu said during a recent discussion on her journey to write the story.
“For us, growing up in India, Queen Victoria is this formidable character dressed in black with fierce expressions and her famous line being ‘We are not amused’. I did not know that Victoria learnt Urdu for 13 years or how attached she was to India. But, as I went through her letters and other notes, I realised there was so much more to her character that just being the dreaded Queen of England,” she adds.
Basu first became curious about Abdul Karim, a person who was sent from Agra to England to serve Queen Victoria in 1887, after she saw one of his portraits in Osborne House, a former private home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on the UK’s Isle of Wight.
“He was painted as a nobleman with a red-and-gold turban on his head and a book in his hand. The moment I saw the picture, I thought he wasn’t just an Indian servant to the Queen. He looked a lot more than that,” she points out.
The author noted that Abdul was instantly liked by the Queen and was later appointed by her as her Urdu teacher (Munshi), while the Queen taught him English.
The author, who went through four years of research in England, India and Pakistan before writing the book, says the accomplishment was immensely satisfying. Hailing the film by Stephen Frears, starring Oscar winner Judi Dench and Bollywood actor Ali Fazal in the lead roles, the author says she found her association with the film — as a consultant — every bit as fascinating. “For the film, I had to research on the Agra jail, which I had not done for the book,” she shares.
Basu also had a role in choosing the production house that made the film.
For us, growing up in India, Queen Victoria is this formidable character dressed in black with fierce expressions and her famous line being ‘We are not amused’. But as I went through her letters and other notes, I realised there was so much more to her character
SHRABANI BASU AUTHOR