Seventy years ago, Lord Mountbatten became the last viceroy to India, sent by the King to oversee the transfer of power from Britain to India ending 300 years of colonial rule.
The British plan involved dividing the country into two independent nation states: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. The partition displaced millions of people, triggering mass migration as Muslims went one way and Hindus and Sikhs went the other. Several hundred thousand people died. This history is personal for director Gurinder Chadha, who made her mark in cinema with Bend it like Beckham.
Her family was caught up in tragedy 70 years ago. She tells the epic story of the Partition in a new movie called Viceroy's House.
Photo: supplied
