The actor also met George Clooney and Sam Rockwell and took a boat ride to his Venetian premiere

Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 8, 2017)

It’s 1am in Mumbai and a little past 8 pm in London. Ali Fazal, who’s in the Queen’s City for the London premiere of his upcoming dramedy, Victoria & Abdul, has just returned from a live BBC interaction. The 30-year-old Indian actor is on a high after brushing shoulders with Hollywood A-listers in Venice, where the Stephen Frears film that chronicles Queen Victoria’s unlikely friendship with an years younger Indian Muslim unveiled at the world’s oldest film festival. Ali sounds bedazzled after his rather surreal stay in the City of Canals.

“It was my first international red carpet and I was nervous. Thank God for the generous and beautiful Judi (co-star Judi Dench who plays Queen Victoria) who’s seen it all. I got lots of love from her as I held her hand and walked into the Excalibur theatre,” he reminisces, heartened that some of the star-gazers were carrying his photograph too. “It’s amazing what this film has done for me. Who could have imagined me getting out of a private boat in Venice to show my film with the best of the best!” he marvels.

Inside the theatre, Ali admitted to Judi that he couldn’t stand watching himself on screen. To his surprise, the 82-year-old Oscar winner confided she shared his feelings. But they settled in their front row seats and watched the movie play out. “There’s so much tenderness in Victoria and Abdul’s relationship that shines through,” says Ali. Both were inundated with compliments from members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for their turns.

Interest of the world press during a press conference earlier surprised him too. “They all wanted to know what’s happening in our country and how a film on the British Raj would be received in India,” he informs, quick to point out that rather than glorifying the Raj, the film is a dig at racial prejudices and class divide. “It’s about an Indian guy who climbs the ladder of opportunity at a time when colonial powers were running the show. It’s sad that this part of our history has been wiped out and not spoken of even back home. It mirrors what’s happening in the world today,” he asserts, referring to Frears’ cheeky quip on stage that he asked himself before making it: “What film would Donald Trump most like to see?”

Richa Chadha joined him at the Venice premiere. While pictures of the duo went viral, reports emerged that the friends who’d met while working on Fukrey four years ago, have confirmed that they are dating with this very public joint appearance. “I am in a happy space. I am glad I met Richa. I admire her deeply. We have been friends for four years and I am glad today she is by my side. It’s more than being friends,” Ali says.

It was a 10 pm premiere and they got back to Hotel Cipriani way past midnight. Located on the island of Giudecca, across the lagoon from St. Mark’s Square, it can only be reached by a private motorboat. Ali describes the journey to and from the premiere as the “coolest ride of his life”. Once inside the hotel, Judi and he stopped to grab a snack since they hadn’t eaten much. That’s when George Clooney, who was also in Venice with his home-invasion comedy on racial prejudices, Suburbicon, featuring Matt Damon and Julianne Moore, strolled in with wife Amal from a dinner.

“Eddie (Eddie Izzard, who plays Berti, the Prince of Wales in their film), Clooney, Matt Damon, Helen Mirren (she arrived with Paolo Virzi’s roadtrip movie The Leisure Seeker) were all staying at the same hotel. I had seen some of them from far. But that night, spotting Judi, George Clooney came up for a chat and promised to watch our film. Standing between them, I didn’t know what to say. I just kept telling myself, ‘Dude, this is really happening!’” Ali laughs.

It was a promise echoed by Sam Rockwell whose turn in Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri earned him rave reviews after the Venice premiere. “Guys like Sam and Clooney are so easy and approachable, it’s almost bizarre. I also saw Michelle Pfeiffer and Jennifer Lawrence, there for Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!” says a still-awed Ali, whose only regret is that he only got to see the city from across the water. “That way it was an unfair trip, I’ll have to go back for a gondola ride. But it still made me feel like Alice in Wonderland, a nice Wonderland,” he chuckles, prepping up for the Toronto fest next.