If you're not aware of who Ali Fazal is you are about to be. Starring alongside real life royalty, Dame Judi Dench, Ali plays the servant and confidante to Judi’s ageing Queen Victoria in new movie Victoria & Abdul. And, in a story akin to that of his character, Ali Fazal was plucked from a strict casting process in India and is now set to light up Hollywood with a performance that swings from comedic to heartbreaking in a second.
For this week’s Joshington Hosts, the former Bollywood actor spoke to our Josh Newis-Smith about his blossoming off-screen relationship with the Dame and we quiz him on just how far he would go for Judi…
“Judi is such a flirt - it’s so hard not to flirt back - I love her! Our relationship is so legit. She’s hard not to love as she’s probably the most loved thing on this planet!”
“The first time I met Judi I kissed her feet! I didn’t have a screen test with Judi, I just did all these all these things back in India and somewhere along the way Stephen (Director, Stephen Frears) was convinced about me and I got the part. That’s when I met Judi and I literally kissed her feet, straight away. I was like, ‘what am I doing!’ She’d done her homework though – she had done all this research about my Indian films, which was crazy. Then on set we were constantly trying to find time to rehearse our lines because there was no formal rehearsal so Judi and I were freaking out, but somewhere along the way a friendship brewed.”
“I learnt new things from Judi everyday from working with her. She’s constantly reinventing herself so you’re always learning. There was a point where I flat out asked her for advice and she said, ‘just learn your lines and don’t bump into furniture!’”
“Coming from an ex-colonial country, I liked the script because it doesn’t try to glorify British rule at all - in fact it mocks it. It really shines a light on the racism and the oppression that went on. The character that travels from India with me, Mohammed, personifies the feelings in India at the time. Then you have Queen Victoria who I think was way ahead of her time because she saw through race, culture and the geography of it all. Also, here’s a woman who is queen of three quarters of the world and she should be the happiest person on the planet but she’s not. She’s lonely and bored, so it was amazing to show the bond and relationship between Victoria and Abdul.”
“Judi gave me plenty of love advice, she told me to be faithful to my girlfriend. Judi told me, ‘you have a keeper there and you need to look after her.’”
Watch the full Joshington Hosts video above to see Ali Fazal talk beat boxing with Judi Dench (LEGIT!) and performs an amazing new version of Sting's Roxanne. Trust us, you don’t want to miss this…
