Mohar Basu (MID-DAY; October 19, 2017)

Victoria & Abdul may have received mixed reviews upon its release last month, but Dame Judi Dench holds the film close to her heart. The beautiful storyline exploring the unlikely friendship between Queen Victoria and her servant aside, the Academy Award-winning actor believes it gave her a talented co-star in Ali Fazal. Dench, who has worked with some of the brightest talents of Hollywood including Cate Blanchett, Daniel Craig and Gwyneth Paltrow, feels that Fazal shows tremendous promise as an artiste.

In a chat with mid-day, she revealed that she finds similarities between Fazal and her Chocolat (2000) co-star Johnny Depp. “I think if I had to peg Ali as someone, he would be a younger version of Johnny Depp.” Dench, who recently shot with Depp for Murder On The Orient Express (2017), added that the Indian export was gifted with a great sense of humour — much like the Hollywood hottie. “Ali is a beautiful boy, very gentle and intelligent. And he’s really funny.” Understandably, Fazal was beside himself with joy to be compared to the Oscar-nominated actor.

Not only is he an ardent admirer of Depp’s work, a compliment of such magnitude coming from Dench makes him all the more confident about his craft. He said, “To be compared to someone I have admired for a long time means so much. Judi and I hit it off instantly. We shared numerous laughs, and we often discussed her experience of working with Depp on Murder On The Orient Express. I guess I don’t need to compliment her in return, she is more popular than Queen Victoria would have been today.”