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

Revisiting Indiarsquos history isnrsquot just about watching events unfold mdash itrsquos about pausing crosschecking references and asking if every detail holds up Thatrsquos exactly how we watched Freedom at Midnight For showrunnerdirector Nikkhil Advani adapting Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collinsrsquos celebrated book Freedom at Midnight was no easy task mdash it demanded sensitivity balance and an uncompromising commitment to historical accuracy Yet it was also a journey he relished In conversation with midday Advani speaks about why the entire 14episode series was shot in one go the pressure of portraying reallife figures on screen and why the scene following Mahatma Gandhirsquos assassination remains his favouriteExcerpts from the interviewWhat was the reaction to the first season of Freedom at MidnightThe response to the first season I think was good It was a tough show to make Given that so many people had read the book Freedom at Midnight and itrsquos a favourite topic for so many people thought wersquod screw it up To be able to overcome that and balance so many points of view was not easy Itrsquos a huge ensemble piece the responsibility of getting it right is much higher than on a fiction show The reviews were heartening We got so many calls and tweets saying lsquothey balanced itrsquo mdash be it in the pragmatism Pandit Jawaharlal Nehrursquos ideology when he torn between Gandhirsquos stance and politics of it I think we got a lot of things right and got some stuff wrongAnurag Thakur as Madanlal PahwaBeyond the book how did you ensure the things you showed were accurateAnything that we felt that needed to be backed up with facts or when there was a different point of view on an incident or fact we referred to our strong research team The writing room basically followed three things One that every scene is to follow the logline Then SonyLIVrsquos head Danish Khan said while we are watching a lesson in history there should be a level of drama that constant ticking clock which is also there in the background music and you feel it when a bomb is going to blow up or something is going to happen The third big thing was the moment somebody in the writing room read a fact differently we backed it up with outside sources and annotationsToday opinions are more polarised than ever Did you feel the pressure to balance the narrativeAs a filmmaker yoursquore always dealing with polarised opinions Itrsquos just because of social media today that possibly itrsquos easier for me to understand what somebody very far away is thinking about what Irsquove made People always had dissenting opinions and polarised opinions but we followed the book as our source material It was a chaotic and confusing time and nobody predicted it would blow upthe way it didNikkhil AdvaniWhile filming at any point did you feel emotionally charged about the patriotism depictedFor me patriotism is a very personal Whether it is Akshay Kumar trying to airlift over 170000 Indians or a film about a man discovering that the motherland is everything through a story of migration even Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway 2023 is extremely patriotic The subject is very interesting As for Freedom at Midnight I think that Nehrursquos Tryst with Destiny speech is such a big moment in all our lives If Irsquove made people feel proud of being an Indian at the end of the seven episodes then Irsquove done my patriotic dutyWhen you cast Chirag Vohra Sidhant Gupta and Rajendra Chawla mdash did you envision them carrying the show so beautifullyThatrsquos the big advantage of the platform Their whole thing was cast for the character and donrsquot bother about stars So whether itrsquos Chirag Rajendra Chawla or Sidhant they are all incredible theatre actors Most of them have worked with top directors who I hold in high regard They were all good actorsDid anyonersquos performance surprise youIt did not surprise me but one of my favourite performances Anurag Thakur who plays Madanlal Pawar He will be the standout performance of season two I think Anurag Thakur is a name that most cinephiles and lovers of great good storytelling and good cinema are going to be talking about for the next 1520 years Therersquos also a scene after the assassination that is my favourite I remember when Chirag was made to lie down on the funeral pyre the room had about 80 people but there was pin drop silence People felt they were in the same room as Gandhirsquos body I got goosebumps The way Sardar and Nehru brokedown was too good I never imagined the scene to come out so beautifullyDid you knowNikkhil Advani shot lsquoFreedom at Midnightrsquo Seasons 1 and 2 together He says ldquoFor lsquoRocket Boysrsquo also we shot both seasons together When you make a period show of this scale genre and pilot you have to make it together because it just makes production sense It took a year to write the 14 episodes and they were written togetherrdquo