Revisiting India’s historical past isn’t nearly watching occasions unfold — it’s about pausing, cross-checking references, and asking if each element holds up. That’s precisely how we watched Freedom at Midnight. For showrunner-director Nikkhil Advani, adapting Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins’s celebrated e-book Freedom at Midnight was no simple process — it demanded sensitivity, steadiness, and an uncompromising dedication to historic accuracy. But, it was additionally a journey he relished. In dialog with mid-day, Advani speaks about why all the 14-episode sequence was shot in a single go, the strain of portraying real-life figures on display screen, and why the scene following Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination stays his favorite.
Excerpts from the interview.
What was the response to the primary season of Freedom at Midnight?
The response to the primary season, I believe was good. It was a tricky present to make. Provided that so many individuals had learn the e-book [Freedom at Midnight], and it’s a favorite matter for thus many, [people thought] we’d screw it up. To have the ability to overcome that and steadiness so many factors of view was [not easy]. It’s an enormous ensemble piece, the accountability of getting it proper is way larger than on a fiction present. The critiques have been heartening. We acquired so many calls and tweets [saying] ‘they balanced it’ — be it within the pragmatism, [Pandit Jawaharlal] Nehru’s ideology when he torn between Gandhi’s stance and [politics of it]. I believe we acquired a whole lot of issues proper and acquired some stuff incorrect.
Anurag Thakur as Madanlal Pahwa
Past the e-book, how did you make sure the belongings you confirmed have been correct?
Something that we felt that wanted to be backed up [with facts], or when there was a distinct viewpoint on an incident or truth, we [referred] to our sturdy analysis staff. The writing room principally adopted three issues. One, that each scene is to observe the logline. Then SonyLIV’s head Danish Khan mentioned whereas we’re watching a lesson in historical past, there needs to be a degree of drama, that fixed ticking clock, which can also be there within the background music and you are feeling it when a bomb goes to explode, or one thing goes to occur. The third massive factor was the second someone within the writing room learn [a fact] in a different way, we backed it up with outdoors sources and annotations.
As we speak, opinions are extra polarised than ever. Did you are feeling the strain to steadiness the narrative?
As a filmmaker, you’re all the time coping with polarised opinions. It’s simply due to social media at present that presumably it’s simpler for me to grasp what someone very far-off is considering what I’ve made. Folks all the time had dissenting opinions and polarised opinions, however we adopted the e-book as our supply materials. It was a chaotic and complicated time, and no one predicted it might blow up
the way in which it did.
Nikkhil Advani
Whereas filming, at any level, did you are feeling emotionally charged in regards to the patriotism depicted?
For me, patriotism is a really private. Whether or not it’s Akshay Kumar making an attempt to airlift over 170,000 Indians, or a movie a couple of man discovering that the motherland is every part by means of a narrative of migration, even Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway [2023] is extraordinarily patriotic. The topic could be very fascinating. As for Freedom at Midnight, I believe that Nehru’s Tryst with Future speech is such a giant second in all our lives. If I’ve made folks really feel pleased with being an Indian on the finish of the seven episodes, then I’ve completed my patriotic obligation.
Once you solid Chirag Vohra, Sidhant Gupta, and Rajendra Chawla — did you envision them carrying the present so fantastically?
That’s the large benefit of the platform. Their entire factor was solid for the character and don’t trouble about stars. So, whether or not it’s Chirag, Rajendra Chawla, or Sidhant, they’re all unimaginable theatre actors. Most of them have labored with prime administrators who I maintain in excessive regard. They have been all good actors.
Did anybody’s efficiency shock you?
It didn’t shock me, however one in all my favorite performances Anurag Thakur who performs Madanlal Pawar. He would be the standout efficiency of season two. I believe Anurag Thakur is a reputation that the majority cinephiles and lovers of nice good storytelling and good cinema are going to be speaking about for the following 15-20 years. There’s additionally a scene after the assassination that’s my favorite. I bear in mind when Chirag was made to lie down on the funeral pyre, the room had about 80 folks, however there was pin drop silence. Folks felt they have been in the identical room as Gandhi’s physique. I acquired goosebumps. The way in which Sardar and Nehru brokedown was too good. I by no means imagined the scene to return out so fantastically.
Do you know?
Nikkhil Advani shot ‘Freedom at Midnight’ Seasons 1 and a couple of collectively. He says, “For ‘Rocket Boys’ additionally we shot each seasons collectively. Once you make a interval present of this scale, style, and pilot, you need to make it collectively as a result of it simply makes manufacturing sense. It took a yr to write down the 14 episodes, and so they have been written collectively.”