Celebrated British director Stephen Frears has done a recce of Bollywood for an actor to play Abdul, Queen Victoria's Man Friday cum confidant imported from India in the 19th century.

Frears has just lined up British actress, Dame Judi Dench, to play Queen Victoria in his new film, Victoria and Abdul, inspired by a book on the intriguing relationship between the British monarch and her servant from Agra.

A source disclosed that Frears, who has directed award-winning films like The Queen, Philomena, Dangerous Liaisons and My Beautiful Launderette, sized up actors from masala movies, art films and Marathi theatre in Mumbai and put together a shortlist - but even the shortlist is a closely guarded secret.

Frears should make his choice soon as Victoria and Abdul is due to start filming this September for a 2017 release.

Dench, considered a doyen of British theatre and cinema, will be playing Queen Victoria for the second time after two decades. She played the widowed monarch in Mrs Brown, released in 1997 and for which she won a Bafta, a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

Mrs Brown was based on Queen Victoria's passionate relationship with her loyal Scottish servant, John Brown, who befriended her after the death of her beloved husband, Prince Albert, in 1861. Abdul was almost a replacement of Brown, who died in 1883, for the aging monarch.

"The letters between Queen Victoria and Abdul reveal an intimacy that is far deeper than that of a monarch and her servant, it wasn't just a platonic relationship," said Shrabani Basu, the author of the book, Victoria and Abdul: The True Story of the Queen's Closest Confidant, on which Frears's film is based.

Abdul Karim was taken to England as a present for Queen Victoria, who was celebrating her golden jubilee in 1887, by Agra jail superintendent John Tyler. The 24-year-old Abdul, who worked as a ledger clerk in Agra jail, was to wait at tables for Indian princes who attended Queen Victoria's court. However, within a year, Abdul graduated from being a waiter to one of the most powerful figures in Victoria's life.

Immediately charmed by the tall and elegant Abdul, the Empress of India learnt to eat curry, speak Urdu and write Hindi under his tutelage. Eventually, Abdul was advising Victoria on how to govern India, much to the chagrin of the Viceroy and his officers.

After a year in England, Abdul made noises about returning to India. But Victoria was so enamoured of this man 44 years her junior that she begged him to stay, elevating him to the post of her official munshi (teacher) and Indian clerk to the Queen. Thereafter, Abdul travelled everywhere with Victoria and remained by her side till her death.

"It was Victoria's wish that he should be the last person to see her after she died and is placed in her coffin. That shows how dear he was to her," Basu told the The Telegraph.

Victoria's relationship with Abdul sent shockwaves through the royal court and was, perhaps, the most scandalous period of her 64-year reign. Members of her family tried to distance the Queen from Abdul but to no avail. "Victoria saw their resentment as racism, and she fought for him and stood up for him at every turn," said Basu.

Within days of Victoria's death, her son King Edward ordered all records of their relationship, including correspondence and photographs, to be burnt. Abdul was sacked and sent back to Agra where he died eight years later at the age of 46.

Basu, who is a consultant for the film, is very pleased with the screenplay written by Oscar-winner Lee Hall. "It's a dream team, I couldn't have asked for more," she said.

This is Dench's third outing with director Frears after Mrs Henderson Presents and Philomena, for both of which she received Oscar nominations for best actress.

After playing Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown and Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love, for which she won the best supporting actress Oscar, Dench had said she was done playing royals. However, when she read the screenplay for Victoria and Abdul, she couldn't resist one last shot.

Considering her calibre and track record, there is every probability that Dench will get an Oscar nomination for her performance as Victoria the second time, too.