Kapur takes on a different Queen

LONDON, March 13: After raising hackles with his last film, Bandit Queen, Shekhar Kapur is ready to take on the English establishment by que...

LONDON, March 13: After raising hackles with his last film, Bandit Queen, Shekhar Kapur is ready to take on the English establishment by questioning whether Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, was indeed a virgin.

In an apoplectic editorial, the right-wing newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, has written, “To question Elizabeth’s virtue 400 years after her death is not just a blackguardly slur upon a good, Christian woman, but an insult to our fathers who fought for her. It should rouse England to chivalrous anger.”

But Kapur, who is in London till mid-May for the post-production of the film, is adamant about her sexual history. “I show her having a strong, physical relationship with her lover, Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester,” he is quoted as saying in The Daily Telegraph.

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Apparently, British historians are furious with his interpretation of history. Dr Simon Adams, a senior lecturer at Strathclyde University, says: “Speculation over the centuries that Elizabeth had active sexual relations haveremained unproved.”

But Kapur says the love story will be a key to his film. Elizabeth is played by Oscar and Lucinda debutante, Australian actress Cate Blanchett, while Joseph Fiennes (Ralph’s brother) plays the Earl of Leicester.

The20 million pound Working Title film also stars Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush, Richard Attenborough, Sir John Gielgud and footballer Eric Cantona.

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