Victoria & Abdul (2017)
Ali Fazal: Abdul Karim
Photos
Quotes
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Abdul Karim : Listen, little drop, give yourself up without regret and in return you will gain the ocean. Give yourself away and in the great sea you will be secure.
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Queen Victoria : Everyone I love has died and I just go on and on. What is the point?
Abdul Karim : Service, Your Majesty. We are here for a greater purpose.
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[as Queen Victoria reaches for her stamp, Abdul grabs it for her instead]
Queen Victoria : Thank you, Mr...
Abdul Karim : Abdul. Abdul Karim.
[Queen Victoria continues to write her letters]
Abdul Karim : I am always writing.
[Queen Victoria looks at him]
Abdul Karim : In India, I'm writing, a-all day, every day.
Queen Victoria : So in India, you are not a servant?
Abdul Karim : No. In India, I'm writing in my very big book.
Queen Victoria : You're writing a book?
Abdul Karim : Yes. I'm writing every name, who they are, what they have done. This is my life. Every day, I'm writing, from morning to night.
Queen Victoria : And this is fiction?
Abdul Karim : No. It is the very truth.
Queen Victoria : I don't understand. If you are an author, why are you here, uh, presenting me with the m... uh, with the m...
Abdul Karim : Mo-Mohur.
[Queen Victoria nods]
Abdul Karim : It is my humble privilege to serve Her Majesty.
[Queen Victoria smiles, then continues to write her letters]
Abdul Karim : I was the one who chose your carpets.
Queen Victoria : Carpets?
Abdul Karim : Yes. The Viceroy asked Mr. Tyler, sir, but actually, it was me. Y-you have to have a very good eye for the carpets. Uh, like...
[walks to the carpet in front of the desk]
Abdul Karim : This is a very nice one, for example. Very, very tight knots. The art of carpets, uh, came to India from Persia with the great Emperor Akbar. The s-skill of a carpet is to bring all the different kinds of threads together and weave something we can all stand on.
Queen Victoria : You seem to know a great deal about it.
Abdul Karim : My family were carpet makers, but now I write in the book. Life is like a carpet. We weave in and out to make a pattern.
Queen Victoria : That is a very beautiful image.
Abdul Karim : Look. Here is the bird of freedom, caught forever in the design.
Queen Victoria : So, in India, you are a poet?
Abdul Karim : No. In India, I make a ledger of the prisoners.
Queen Victoria : We are all prisoners, Mr. Karim.
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Sir Henry Ponsonby : To celebrate the completion of the Durbar Room, a little surprise, Your Majesty.
[Queen Victoria is presented with a mango in a box]
Queen Victoria : What is it?
Sir Henry Ponsonby : A mango, Your Majesty.
Abdul Karim : One moment, Your Majesty.
[Abdul looks at the mango and presses it, some juice sticking to his finger]
Abdul Karim : Uh, it-it's... off.
Queen Victoria : Sir Henry, this mango is off.
[servant closes the mango box and backs away]
Sir Henry Ponsonby : I-I'm terribly sorry, Your Majesty.