Indian authorities have tried to censor a British film portraying the relationship of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, with the wife of the country’s last colonial viceroy amid agonising that the movie could bring New Delhi’s ruling dynasty into disrepute.

Indian Summer is an adaptation of a book by Alex Von Tunzelmann published two years ago. The film is scheduled for release in two years’ time, with Cate Blanchett, the Australian actress, expected to play the role of Countess Mountbatten of Burma and Irrfan Khan, an Indian actor, Nehru. Nayantara Sahgal, Nehru’s niece, said her uncle and Countess Mountbatten of Burma had been in love with each other and made a devoted pair. The relationship has been murmured about across dinner tables since India’s independence 62 years ago but rarely publicly acknowledged in the UK or India.