Ali Fazal Recalls Teaching Urdu on the Victoria & Abdul Set -“They Began Trusting My Corrections”
Ali Fazal opened up on Shekhar Tonite about a memorable responsibility he took on while working in Hollywood. Recounting his time on Victoria & Abdul with Judi Dench, he said the film’s Urdu poetry and letters made him the on-set go-to for language accuracy.
“It was a beautiful experience,” Ali told Shekhar Suman. “Victoria & Abdul is a true story. Abdul Karim was Queen Victoria’s confidant and taught her Urdu for fifteen years. I even read their letters. There was shayari and Urdu poetry in it, so whenever I corrected something—maybe a nukta was wrong—it would go through this entire route. It would go to the BBC, then different people would check it, check, check, check… and finally they started trusting me. They said, ‘Okay, yeah, you know what, just let us know if it’s correct or wrong.’”
His anecdote offers a small but revealing look at how cultural and linguistic authenticity mattered on an international production. It also shows how Ali’s knowledge of Urdu became an unexpected responsibility and a point of trust for the crew.
Watch the full conversation with Ali Fazal on Shekhar Tonite’s YouTube channel.
