Release of Last Viceroy postponed, will now release during Independence Week

Gurinder Chadha s ambitious Partition epic The Last Viceroy about Lord Mountbatten s final months in India just before India s division into two countries has been moved forward fromits proposed release on March 3.

The ambitious epic film featuring an impressive line-up of British and Indian actors including Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson as Lord and Lady Mountbatten, and Om Puri and Neeraj Kabi as a blind freedom fighter and Mahatma Gandhi, respectively was all set for a grand release in the first week of March along with the UK.

Now we hear the film s release is being pushed to August ostensibly to coincide with 70 years of India s Independence.

With The Last Viceroy being premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 12, ahead of its UK release on March 3, the proposed August release of the film in India seems like a brave decision. The film may be leaked on the internet. But it’s a risk the producers are willing to take as they feel releasing a film about the end of the British Raj and the Partition for Independence Day in August makes sense.”