BREAKING: Huma Qureshi's 'Viceroy's House' postponed for THIS reason

Gurinder Chadha’s ambitious Partition epic Viceroy's House about Lord Mountbatten’s final months in India just before India’s division into two countries, has hit a stumbling-block in its proposed release on March 3.

The  ambitious epic film featuring an impressive lineup of British and Indian actors including Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson as Lord and Lady Mountbatten, and Om Puri and Neeraj Kabi as a blind freedom fighter and Mahatma Gandhi respectively, was all set for a grand release in the first week of March along with the UK.

Now we hear the film’s release is being pushed to August ostensibly to coincide with 70 years of India’s Independence. However sources say the film’s Indian producers just developed an acute case of cold feet.

“There was just no buzz created around the film,thanks to the totally inept marketing by Reliance.There was also the Lion factor. Garth Davis’ film about an Australian-Indian boy’s search for his family, is the Indian film that has caught the world’s attention. In India, Lion releases on February 24. Releasing another diaspora film a week later in India made no sense, at least not to Reliance,” says a member of Gurinder’s cast.

With Viceroy's House being premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on February 12, ahead of its UK release on March 3, the proposed August release of the film in India seems not only distant but also impractical. “By then the film will be available on the Internet to anyone who cares to see it. Also, if the reviews are unfavourable the film is screwed,” says a member of the film’s cast.