I prefer this documentary to the BBC's fictionalised version
Padma went to see "Victoria & Abdul" in the Bay's cinema. She liked it so much, she even bought the DVD and made me watch it. It begins with the opening credit "Based on true events ... mostly". A better adverb would have been 'hardly'!
As always, Judi Dench gives a convincing performance but I don't like the BBC's attempt at social engineering when as Queen Victoria she admires Abdul's wife and mother-in-law wearing the full burqa. It never happened and it's even more unlikely that Abdul introduced them with the quip, "This is my wife and my mother-in-law. At least I think so."
The BBC wants to make us believe that the burqa was already an accepted dress in 19th century England and even Queen Victoria liked it, so get over it! Leni Riefenstahl couldn't have done it any better!
P.S. As for "What have the Romans ever done for us?", according to Shashi Tharoor the British did very little for India - listen here.
