My aim was to demystify Gandhi, Nehru and Jinnah

Director Nikkhil Advani on his upcoming show Freedom at Midnight and how he tried to remain neutral while depicting history in such divided times while actors Siddhant Gupta, Chirag Vohra and Arif Zakaria delve into the process of embodying real-life personalities

- KARTIK BHARDWAJ

AFTER being the creative force behind shows like The Empire and Rocket Boys, filmmaker Nikkhil Advani's tryst with history continues with the upcoming SonyLIV series, Freedom at Midnight. The period-drama, based on the 1975 book of the same name by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, chronicles the events that occurred at the cusp of Independence and which finally culminated in the horrors of Partition. The show has an ensemble cast, consisting of Jubilee-fame (2023) Siddhant Gupta (as Jawaharlal Nehru), Chirag Vohra (as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi), Arif Zakaria (as Muhammad Ali Jinnah), Rajendra Chawla (as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel), Ira Dubey (as Jinnah's sister Fatima) and RJ Malishka (as Sarojini Naidu), among others.

We spoke to Nikkhil about the show's inception, his attempt at demystifying historical figures and how he remains neutral while depicting history in such divided times. Siddhant, Arif, and Chirag, on the other hand, delved into the actors' processes of embodying real-life personalities.

Excerpts:

Generally, films or series about the freedom struggle are about resistance against the British. This show is about a peculiar time when it was being decided which direction a newly formed country would take. Was that something that interested you to take this up?