Freedom at Midnight 2: Nikkhil Advani on coping with polarised opinions

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 straightforward process — it demanded sensitivity, stability, and an uncompromising dedication to historic accuracy. But, it was additionally a journey he relished. In dialog with mid-day, Advani speaks about why your entire 14-episode sequence was shot in a single go, the stress 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 feel was good. It was a troublesome present to make. On condition that so many individuals had learn the e-book [Freedom at Midnight], and it’s a favorite matter for therefore many, [people thought] we’d screw it up. To have the ability to overcome that and stability so many factors of view was [not easy]. It’s an enormous ensemble piece, the accountability of getting it proper is far increased than on a fiction present. The evaluations had been heartening. We bought 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 feel we bought plenty of issues proper and bought some stuff mistaken.

Anurag Thakur as Madanlal Pahwa 

Past the e-book, how did you make sure the belongings you confirmed had been correct?
Something that we felt that wanted to be backed up [with facts], or when there was a distinct perspective on an incident or reality, we [referred] to our robust analysis crew. The writing room principally adopted three issues. One, that each scene is to comply with the logline. Then SonyLIV’s head Danish Khan mentioned whereas we’re watching a lesson in historical past, there must be a degree of drama, that fixed ticking clock, which can be there within the background music and you’re feeling it when a bomb goes to explode, or one thing goes to occur. The third huge factor was the second someone within the writing room learn [a fact] otherwise, we backed it up with outdoors sources and annotations.

At this time, opinions are extra polarised than ever. Did you’re feeling the stress to stability 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 distant 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 person predicted it might blow up 
the best way it did.

Nikkhil Advani

Whereas filming, at any level, did you’re 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 few man discovering that the motherland is every little thing by way of a narrative of migration, even Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway [2023] is extraordinarily patriotic. The topic could be very attention-grabbing. As for Freedom at Midnight, I feel that Nehru’s Tryst with Future speech is such a giant second in all our lives. If I’ve made individuals really feel pleased with being an Indian on the finish of the seven episodes, then I’ve finished my patriotic responsibility.

If you solid Chirag Vohra, Sidhant Gupta, and Rajendra Chawla — did you envision them carrying the present so superbly?
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 unbelievable theatre actors. Most of them have labored with prime administrators who I maintain in excessive regard. They had been all good actors.

Did anybody’s efficiency shock you?
It didn’t shock me, however certainly one of my favorite performances Anurag Thakur who performs Madanlal Pawar. He would be the standout efficiency of season two. I feel 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 keep in mind when Chirag was made to lie down on the funeral pyre, the room had about 80 individuals, however there was pin drop silence. Folks felt they had been in the identical room as Gandhi’s physique. I bought goosebumps. The best way Sardar and Nehru brokedown was too good. I by no means imagined the scene to return out so superbly.

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. If you make a interval present of this scale, style, and pilot, it’s a must to make it collectively as a result of it simply makes manufacturing sense. It took a yr to put in writing the 14 episodes, and so they had been written collectively.”