Not trying to stir up controversy, just want to tell a story I love: Nikkhil Advani on ‘Freedom at Midnight’

Mumbai: After the success of "Rocket Boys", producer Nikkhil Advani says he was keen to chronicle another chapter from Indian history and he wanted to be a "little bit more ambitious".

Advani said he and Danish Khan, Business Head of Sony LIV and StudioNext, were looking for their next project when they realised they both loved "Freedom at Midnight", Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre's defining book on the transition of India from a British colony to a democracy.

"Rocket Boys", which chronicled the friendship and works of nuclear physicists Homi Bhabha and Vikram Sarabhai, was slightly easier as not many knew about their friendship, but adapting this book was a massive challenge. "I don't think there's any correct time to adapt ‘Freedom at Midnight’ contemporary or otherwise... I feel you should never forget history, I want to keep reminding people that this has happened. I’m not trying to stir up any controversy. I'm just trying to tell a story that I loved reading as a young boy, a story that I keep going back to," Advani told PTI in an interview.

The political drama, which he has co-produced and also directed, aims to shed light on the tumultuous events surrounding India’s struggle for independence, and the contribution of personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Patel who played a significant role in scripting the country’s history as we know it today.

The book as well as the series also delves into other key figures like Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Lord Louis Mountbatten, India's last Viceroy.

The 53-year-old director, known for films like “Kal Ho Naa Ho”, “D Day”, and “Vedaa”, said he has retained the integrity of historical events but has taken creative liberties in crafting conversations between characters.

“I want to put the viewer, the audience into those hallowed rooms that we have not read in history books, I want to put you into Viceroy's or Jinnah’s study, where he says, ‘You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.’ Did he say that? ‘No’. But would he have taken advantage of the fact that people are going to take me seriously, 'Yes'." While Advani is excited to share his interpretation of the historical events in “Freedom at Midnight”, he acknowledges the risk of such an endeavour.

“I feel that the definition of patriotism has become slightly skewed. I want to be in a position to say, ‘Let's re-examine what patriotism should be’, and what ‘Rocket Boys’ is, which is nation-building.

"Will it (‘Freedom at Midnight’) get rejected? My wife told me very early in my career, ‘You are not as good as Martin Scorsese, nor are you as popular as Jesus Christ and 50 per cent of the world hates them. So, move on and keep doing what you have to do, and that’s important,” the director said, adding, that he has portrayed various facets of patriotism in his previous works like “Airlift”, “Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway”, “Mumbai Diaries”, “Batla House”, and “Vedaa”.

The essence of democracy lies in the freedom of expression, said Advani, lauding the efforts undertaken by Nehru, Gandhi, and Patel.

"It's not only about Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel, there's BR Ambedkar, Sarojini Naidu, Maulana Azad, Acharya Kriplani and lots of people who are in the background. Though these three were the pillars and founding fathers (of the nation), they fought to allow you to criticize them. Like, They gave you a Constitution, which says 80 years later, you can tell them, ‘You made a mistake’.

"The greatest part of being in a democracy is the ‘ability to agree to disagree’ and they fought for it. 'Did they get everything right?’ I don't think so." The filmmaker said casting was both easy and difficult as they wanted actors with gravitas to play these iconic personalities.

Sidhant Gupta, who broke out from "Jubilee", felt like the right choice to play a young Nehru, also because of his distinctive nose. He discovered Chirag Vohra from Hansal Mehta's "Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story" and it was casting director Kavish Sinha who came with the idea to cast RJ Malishka Mendonsa as Sarojini Naidu.

"The one person you will never find in a casting discussion is a make-up person. I had Jagdish Dada, who would tell me, ‘I can make this person Gandhi or Sardar Patel’. When it came to Nehru’s part, he was such a beautiful, charismatic, effervescent man with an incredible nose. Jagish Dada said, ‘Nehru had a straight and sharp nose, you will have to find me that kind of person’.

"I saw ‘Jubilee’, and I was like, ‘Where was he (Sidhant Gupta)?’, I called Vikram (Motwane, director) and he said, ‘He is superb and he will get into the skin of the role’." To preserve the integrity of these personalities, Advani said he asked his actors to avoid taking up roles contrary to their character's identity for a year.

"I don't want Chirag, who plays Gandhi, playing some henchman to a villain, he is Gandhi, you can play such a part afterwards,” Advani said, adding that he hopes people embrace Rajendra Chawla as Sardar Patel.

"Freedom at Midnight", also starring Arif Zakaria as Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Ira Dubey as Fatima Jinnah, Malishka Mendonsa as Sarojini Naidu, Rajesh Kumar as Liaquat Ali Khan, and KC Shankar as VP Menon among others, will stream on SonyLIV on November 15.

Monisha Advani, Siddharth Atha, and Madhu Bhojwani are co-producers on the show.