Dame Judy Dench does a marvelous job as Queen. This movie is based on truth. The story is about Queen Victoria making a friendship with her servant from India. I find it one of the best. Great acting as well as the story. Makes the story come to life of the queen.

"Victoria and Abdul" centre around two people madly in love with each other while keeping it platonic and showing that love is not necessarily a physical thing but more affectionate emotion one has to the other. In this case it's on Queen Victoria and an Indian Muslim subject whom both seem to have a great connection for one another that was based on actual events under the direction of Stephen Frears and scriptwriter Lee Hall. Although the intentions were good in the making of the movie, it's still overwrought with stuffiness, lack of coherency and looking to find the right genre of the film. It can't decide if it wants to be a drama or a comedy. The drama level is on par with Queen Victoria's personnel along with the angst and irritability regarding the bonding between her majesty and this Indian servant. But the leading performances successfully managed to build a strong relationship even through the hostile intensity.Abdul Karim (Ali Fazal) is an Indian servant living under the British crown and government. He is a commoner who's responsible for taking logs at a local prison. He becomes a presence to the Queen Victoria (Judi Dench) only due to his tallness and was told never to make eye contact with her. The one powerful Victoria is now in her 80's, bordering on senility, she's pudgy, and has become sick to death with the routines and the demands that has been part of most of her life. She eats in an uncouth manner and has lost a lot of etiquette and sleeps during important meetings. When Abdul offers her the gift for her, she gets awestruck by his handsome visage. She demands that he stays with her for a while and be by her side. She is also fascinated by his culture. His physical well being helps rectify her vitality while her close associates become infuriated by the day.The movie is a tale of two individuals who are not entire disconnected from one each other and relies on two plots. The first being the Queen's restoring of faith within the palace due to Abdul and the second being the people who are upset about this whole ordeal. The transformation from light comedy to darker territories can be quite revolting, though its still in conjunction to the development of the script but feels very indecisive in its direction to where it wants to go. The queen is in this stage in her life where everything to her seems pointless and once Abdul enters her life her energy is restored again like it was some miracle and that the subjects think it's all a phase and that she'll eventually lose interest in him. But the conflict in that assumption falls very flat. It has its moments of charm and a few areas of surrealism as well like in the second the primary focus is on Victoria's demands from the physicians to check out Abdul and his wife as to why she can't reproduce which falls in very dark and heavy-handed scenes. The film may spark some interest, but the awkward pacing and narrative will likely get you flabbergasted.When it comes to the technical aspects like the production design is brilliantly nuanced. The settings and location are visually stunning, the film does have that authentic look like you're stepping into 19th century England. The costumes were very fit for the period and the diversity that comes with the package is quite sublime. Frears' direction seems to be in confident hands with a combination of splendor and intimacy. In terms of lightness the chemistry between Victoria and Abdul is very adaptable and we can feel the passion one has for each other. However, the dark clouds reign here as well as the subject matter becomes overwhelmingly heavy. The performances were universally excellent. Judi Dench may have overdone makeup, but still generates a complex role quite flawlessly as she's plays senile while also displaying a light role mixed with darker and heavier themes. Ali Fazal show great depth in his role as the humble, lovable servant and shows that underneath all her majestic powers, he knows she's still human like the rest of us and knows she can find a friend in him."Victoria and Abdul" succeeds in many areas like acting, sets, costumes and production design. The direction of where it wants to go gets lost and though the first two acts were light in comedy, it turns to a more jarring, darker third act. I would recommend it to those who love period pieces and fans who of Judi Dench in these type of roles.

While the acting here is very fine, particularly that of Julie Dench as the old queen, the plot is weakened by two very contrary cliches around which the entire story revolves.First, the cliche, and all chiches are partly true or they would not have become cliches, first the notion that the British in the Victorian period were racist about colored people even though Britain had millions of them in their African and Indian possessions. The hostility towards Abdul the Muslim Indian companion of the old queen was shared by the royal family, especially by the future Edward VII (Bertie) and by the staff in the palace who took care of the queen's every need. They felt insulted by the presence of an Indian colored man in their neighborhood and tried to coerce the queen into letting him leave. The second cliche is that of the alleged immense philosophical wisdom and religious insight of the Indians, no matter how lowly their origins. The queen regards every word out of the mouth of Abdul as brilliant, philosophical, and worthy of deep respect. Of course the west has long been misled by the apparent religiosity of the Indians, but these were always Hindus not Muslims and Abdul is a Muslim. This become relevant later on in the plot, but the notion that Indian Muslims, the lowest of the low after the fall of the Mughal empire, were worthy of respect for their thought is ridiculous. So here we have the typical western attraction in the person of the queen for Indian thought. Yes, India is the most religious country in the world; it is also the most dirty, the most dismal, and the poorest. Sensible westerners do not stand awestruck by Indian thought, which is usually self-righteous and oblivious to the real faults of Indian culture. You can admire the Taj Mahal, as Abdul urges the queen to do, but there is much more to India than a couple of beautiful palaces. The story is interesting to be sure but the two major cliches make it in the end rather less than worthwhile. Edward VII comes off very badly; he was not a bad bloke, he just got tired of wating for the queen to die and for him to become king. Charles Prince of Wales today is in exactly the same position, but Queen Elizabeth is not foolish enough to become enamored of some Indian fellow with alleged wisdom. She is probably more queenly than Victoria.

Judi Dench runs away with this movie. In fact, she hits the ball so far out of the pack, that the rest of the actors are left with little more than eating dust. It seems that I enjoy her performance in every movie I've seen her in, whether its strong British characters (in movies like the James Bond Skyfall, or as Queen Victoria in this movie) or introspective people with pasts to reconcile (as in Philomena, or The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). She seems to personify the older British woman, bound by tradition, but bursting with inner feelings. Although nominated for acting Oscars seven times, she won only once, for a supporting role in Shakespeare in Love in 1999.Why she wasn't nominated for this movie, I don't know. I haven't seen any of the other female-actress-nominated movies, but find it difficult to imagine superior performances. Instead, it was nominated in two, below-the-line, categories - Costumes, and Makeup. And I have to confess, up-front, that I have some difficulty with these two categories. My complaints center around the fact that these nominees almost always play on the overly conservative side of things. Instead of rewarding the creativity that comes with designing clothing for major science fiction and fantasy movies, like Star Trek or Guardians of the Galaxy, the nominees in these categories tend to the period piece movies, or as is the case too frequently with the Makeup and Hairstyling category, with movies that are simply insults to the intelligence of the average viewer (I think specifically of the 100 Year Old Man Who.... from a couple years ago where the 'makeup' centered largely around a scrotum and testicles that hung so low they nearly dragged on the floor.)The makeup in this movie isn't that disgusting, and the wigs and facial makeup for, especially, the members of the British royal family, are convincingly done and add to the fun of the movie. And the costumes are all perfectly appropriate for the Victorian age. So I suppose the movie deserves the spotlight in those two categories, although it didn't win an Oscar in either.Victoria & Abdul is the story, 'mostly' based on fact, of the friendship that develops between Queen Victoria and a Muslim from India. As unlikely as that sounds, it apparently occurred in the few years before her death and caused quite a scandal within the royal family as the influence of a Muslim wasn't considered at all appropriate in Britain at that time (or now either?). The movie starts as a sort of comedy with the juxtaposition of the Queen's highly formal lifestyle with the care-free life of a low-level prison clerk from India. The improbable circumstances of how he meets the queen, are definitely the stuff of situation comedy. And Dench's remarkably adept portrayal of the banalities of queenly formalism is the straight-man to Abdul's devilish grin and refusal to obey even the simple rule of 'Don't look at the Queen!' But he does look at the queen, and her eyes catch his. In the next moment the delightfully droll octogenarian is commenting about how handsome he is and arranges to have him become more involved, platonically, with her. Eventually, he becomes her "munshee" which is sort of a Muslim spiritual teacher. In addition to teaching her Urdu and basics of the Koran, he succeeds in bringing out her spirit and enriches her final days. All of this occurs while the Queen's family and staff remain quite properly aghast at what is a consuming scandal.The comedic aspect of this movie, however, can't be sustained and I don't think the transition to the real drama of the relationship succeeds very well. Part of that might be the writing. Lee Hall wrote the screenplay based on a book by Shrabani Bass. Hall was nominated previously for his adapted screenplay of Billy Elliott, but I don't recognize any of his other credits. And the director, Stephen Frears, was nominated for The Queen in 2008, and The Grifters in 1991, and also directed Philomena, Dangerous Liasons, and Dirty Pretty Things. Unfortunately, this movie does not live up to some of his better work.The reason, I suspect, is that, like so many movies with just one or two nominations, this movie lacks balance. Ok, the costumes and makeup is terrific, and Judi Dench is nearly outstanding, but that's about all this movie has to offer. It would have helped, I think, if Ms. Dench had a better actor to work with her. Abdul is played by Ali Fazal, who is best known for a smaller role in Furious 7 and roles in Bollywood movies and television, but no real presence on Western screens. That he is tall and good looking is a given, but he is not a tier 1 actor. As a result, his interactions with Dench appear stiff at times and contrived. Frequently it is difficult to tell whether he is trying, maybe a little too hard, to be funny or is expressing a more serious moment. Dench deserves a stronger partner.Although far from a perfect movie, it is still fun to watch. Judi Dench's performance is worth the time, and, especially in today's age of religious and ethnic prejudices, it is encouraging to see a story like this one which at least attempts to portray the power and significance of human relationships. The Queen does die a happier woman because of Abdul.Recommended for Dench's acting, costumes and makeup, and a lighthearted, warming story.