Stephen Frears’ Victoria and Abdul, is a witty telling of the unlikely bond between the aged Queen Victoria of England, the Empress of India, and a commoner, Abdul Karim, whom she appoints as her Urdu teacher and whom she fondly addresses as Munshia. Based on “mostly” true facts, the film is drawn from the book penned by Sharbani Basu, which was inspired by volumes of the queen’s handwritten notes in Urdu […]