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Most of the characters depicted were historical. Mohammad Bakhs is a fictional character and relatively little is known about Abdul's wife and family. However, the jealousies, including Abdul's involvement in the Golden Jubilee are true. One problem for historians is because Edward destroyed many of the Queen's records, most of the accounts come from Abdul's family that were obtained much later after Abdul and the Queen had died. Thus, it is possible we are not getting an evenhanded perspective of their relationship. Nevertheless, it does seem the Queen was about to knight Abdul and had to settle in making him Commander of the Royal Victorian Order due to court pressure. The Queen also gave him many gifts, including land in India. This was little discussed in the movie, but Abdul did grow very wealthy during his time with the Queen and he managed to keep that wealth in India after he was forced out of court. It is not clear if Abdul lied about some key events in India's relationship with Britain; it is also not clear he directly affected policy in India, although he did increase the Queen's interest in the subcontinent. It is not clear if the Queen did try to kick Abdul out at one point, as there is no evidence that she was close to doing so. Nevertheless, much of the movie is accurate in showing that the Queen took interest in learning Urdu and about Islam. She was genuinely interested in learning about her subjects in India and Abdul did help her learn about India, its history, and culture. Overall, the movie depicted a close relationship between two unlikely individuals that caused great stress, particularly in light of the racism and bigotry of the time, but their friendship proved to be genuine for both the Queen and Abdul.<ref>For more on the history of Victoria and Abdul, see: Basu S (2011) <i>Victoria & Abdul: The True Story of the Queen’s Closest Confidant</i>. Gloucestershire, Eng.: History Press.</ref>