New light on freedom at midnight

At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom...

We, the post-Independence generation, have grown up listening to or reading this historic speech by India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. But what about the goings-on before that momentous moment of freedom? What led to India breathing free? What made the British leave behind a nation divided into two? Why Nehru, and not Sardar Patel, was chosen to lead India? Why did Mohammad Ali Jinnah, initially a Congressman, turn so bitter as to demand a separate nation for his Muslim brethren? We might know the answers to these in bits and parts, but, as Nikkhil Advani, creator of the immensely watchable and impeccable ‘Rocket Boys’, turns his creative eye to the run-up to India’s tryst with destiny, he creates yet another masterpiece, offering perspective and detail.

Advani himself directs this adaptation of a book by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. He stays mostly with what unfolded just a couple of years before India attained freedom. A short prelude to every episode in this seven-episode series goes further back in time. Advani connects these incidents to the main narrative. There is a reason why the Chauri Chaura incident of 1922 or the Indian National Congress’ Nagpur session of 1920 are highlighted. If one brings out Gandhi’s deep abhorrence for violence, another turns the light on how Jinnah, to begin with an ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity, developed animosity towards Gandhi.

Gandhi appears rather weak in the first episode, while Jinnah cuts an impressive figure. But a reverse graph follows soon enough. Gandhi emerges as the man we know — a man of unshakeable secular values and peerless courage. A scene where he sits under the tree drenched in rain is enough to bare his soul for us. In contrast, Jinnah spews statements bordering on diatribe — “some eggs will break if you make an omelette”.

Casting foreign actors in parts that demand their presence is a done thing today. Here, since most of them speak English, not a thing seems out of place. Advani, with a team of writers (Abhinandan Gupta, Gundeep Kaur, Adwitiya Kareng Das, Divy Nidhi Sharma, Revanta Sarabhai and Ethan Taylor) at his disposal and the tome from which it is inspired, leaves no stone unturned to lend authenticity to his recreation of historical events. Nor does he gloss over the fissures between Gandhi and his proteges Nehru and Patel. His bias towards Nehru surfaces when he asks Patel to step down. It manifests further when he tells Patel, “Dil se toh nikaal hi chuke ho, ab deewar se bhi nikaal do,” as Patel tries to adjust Gandhiji’s photograph on the wall.

The most emotive moments belong to Gandhi. Beyond physical resemblances, the casting is perfect, even though putting a young actor like ‘Jubilee’ star Sidhant Gupta in Nehru’s shoes or having Ira Dubey play Jinnah’s sister Fatima is fraught with risks. But the actors rise to the challenge. Sidhant as Nehru stays with you. Rajendra Chawla as Patel comes across as pragmatic, with a fine sense of humour. He even jokes that if giving Pakistan means getting rid of Jinnah, he would do it instantly. Arif Zakaria perhaps gets the role of a lifetime in Jinnah. He elevates it and makes us Indians see him for the human being that he was — flawed alright, but human too. Gandhi’s solution to avert Partition probably was too idealistic a choice, but Chirag Vohra echoes what Gandhi stood for in every move and sinew of his body.

It’s not just the lead actors who get it right, but the entire battery of cast. Take KC Shankar, who plays civil servant VP Menon, entrusted with the task of compiling the Transfer of Power. Luke McGibney as Lord Louis Mountbatten is at once charming, sharp and conniving, often using his wife Edwina (Cordelia Bugeja); he even talks of Operation Seduction. But, there are no salacious details of Nehru’s rumoured affair with her.

The series is a window to the past. But, with lines like “often regional identity is more important than religious”, the series does appear to be talking to the present generation. “Nafrat ki gathri bahut bhaari hoti hai, zyada der tak log ise utha nahi sakte…” (The bundle of hatred is very heavy, people can’t carry it for long), too, seems addressed to all of us, many of whom are once again falling prey to the communal divide.

Indeed, there are many takeaways in the series. Sikhs are portrayed as indomitable and strong-willed. With top-notch production and art design, fine background score and apt camerawork, this political drama is anything but a flat lesson in history. Rather, as season one climaxes before the Radcliffe Line could play havoc in the lives of millions killed and displaced, we have already seen a sample of the horror. Certainly, much more is in store. We, however, are all agog to see how Patel will bring all the 562 princely states to the Indian side. Some events and thoughts can never become ad nauseam even when told ad infinitum. Advani, in particular, tells it the way it should be.