Web Series: Freedom at Midnight

Producer: Amy Entertainment & Studio Next

Director: Nikhil Advani

Cast: Siddhant Gupta, Chirag Vohra, Arif Zakaria, Rajendra Chawla, Ira Dubey, Rajesh Kumar, Malishka and others

Platform :Sony Liv

Rating: Three

freedom at midnight review: The history of Indian independence has been shown on the silver screen many times till now. Sometimes in the form of oppression by the British rule, sometimes in the story of sacrifice of freedom fighters, and sometimes in the tragedy of partition of the country from the common man's perspective, but what was the reason for this partition. Why did this partition happen in the name of religion? Why were our leaders not able to stop this division? The answers to all these questions have been almost missing from the films and series till now, but Nikhil Advani's period drama series Freedom at Midnight powerfully brings to life that turbulent and frightening past, in which the decision to partition the country was made. Was taken. Despite some shortcomings, this series keeps you engaged from beginning to end due to its storytelling and excellent visuals.

The story is of the turbulent past of 1946 to 1947.

Talking about the story of the series, it is based on the 1975 bestseller book of the same title. Which has been converted into a web series format by Nikhil Advani and his writing team of six members. The series begins in 1946, at an event in Kolkata, when a journalist asks Mahatma Gandhi (Chirag Vohra) whether India will be divided. In reply he says that before this my body will be divided. The series ends with a printed page of a newspaper, in which it is written that Gandhi will have to pay the price of this partition. Starting in 1946, the series travels to June 1947, when partition was officially announced. In the beginning, along with Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Patel were also against the partition, but being hurt by the series of riots in Bengal, Punjab and Bihar, Sardar Patel told Gandhiji that if fingers had to be cut off to save the hand, then they should be cut off. The story not only runs on the timeline of the year 1946 to 1947, but it also brings into the story important events of the past. Which have played an important role in creating the current situation. Which areas of Punjab and Bengal were added to Pakistan during partition. How those areas were decided. These aspects have been added to the story. Apart from this, idealism of Gandhi and Nehru, pragmatism of Patel and selfishness of Jinnah have also found place in this tragedy of partition.

Advantages and disadvantages of the series

This series of seven episodes promises to tell a history that you do not know and while watching the series, you feel this to be true to a great extent. Friendship of Patel and Nehru, we have always seen our freedom heroes larger than life, but it also shows their human side (the incident of Patel and Nehru losing their way in the Viceroy's House) Full story of VP Menon in the fifth episode Chapter. At the time of partition, not only Hindus, Muslims but also Sikhs were in trouble. The series also answers some questions. Why did Gandhiji choose Nehru instead of Patel? Gandhiji was against partition till the last moment. The series has the feel of a documentary, but it is not a documentary, so the makers have also taken cinematic liberty. Especially in the conversations held behind closed doors, but they have not tampered with the history in any way, this is the specialty of the series. The names of cinematographer, art director, costume designer and editing team are at the forefront among those who have done commendable work in the series. . Talking about the dialogue of the series, the English characters are not shown speaking broken Hindi, rather their entire conversation is in English language. Apart from Hindi and English, Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali languages have also been used. Which increases the credibility of the series. There are some shortcomings in the series. In the series, Jinnah and the Muslim League were solely held responsible for the partition. Was there no involvement of Mountbatten? What were the British's talks about divide and rule? What was the role of RSS and Hindu Mahasabha at that time. This series does not delve into this topic. Prosthetic make-up is the specialty of this series, but there is a mistake in that too. The look of aged Nehru has not been captured properly on screen. Well, while watching the series, this question may come to your mind that why Nikhil Advani did not choose older actors instead of young actors in his series. The presence of female characters in this series is strange. Actually, there was not much for them to do. Malishka is seen in some scenes in the role of Sarojini Naidu, while Ira Dubey has been seen continuously in the series but she had nothing to do. She was seen as the caretaker of her brother Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Looks the same. The role of Lady Edwina (Cordelia) has also not been given importance in this story. The background music of the series enhances the drama.

Arif Zakaria deserves praise

Talking about acting, after Jubilee, actor Siddhant Gupta has once again left his mark in this series. He lives the character of Nehru very well. Chirag Vohra's hard work is visible in the character of Gandhi. In accordance with the trust that director Nikhil Advani had shown on Rajendra Chawla, he has played the role of Sardar Patel very well. Arif Zakaria deserves praise. He portrayed Mohammad Ali Jinnah on screen with his body language, dialogues and expressions. Made it alive. It would not be wrong to say this. Rajesh Kumar has also been effective. Apart from this, all the other actors also do justice to their respective roles.