Films and series that are based on history and real-life events face a lot of pressure. They need to tell the story accurately while also keeping the show engaging and entertaining. It becomes challenging because people have strong opinions about how history should be portrayed, and if the filmmakers don’t get it right, they get heavy backlash. Talking about the pressure of making a historical drama, Nikkhil Advani, director of Freedom at Midnight, opened up about the steps he took to avoid backlash and take creative liberty.
Nikkhil Advani On Dealing With Pressure As The Director Of Freedom At Midnight
In an exclusive interview with Hauterrfly, we asked Nikkhil Advani about how whenever a historical drama or film releases a common backlash that it faces is how there’s too much drama or that it lacks factual accuracy. So, how did he deal with that pressure, or were there any conscious steps he took to avoid this even while taking creative liberty? To which Nikkhil Advani said, “So, I think the book is a great source of material. Freedom at Midnight written by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins chronicles the events between 1946 to 1948. It’s almost as if you are reading the book and it transfers you. Someone challenged to transfer viewers and everybody in the audience into their rooms. Jinnah’s study or the place where Sarojini Naidu and Zakir Azhar, Kamal Azhar are having a conversation. So, the question about whether we got it factually right. I don’t know.”
“We got what was there in the book and we took those as our seeds. From there we thought that this is a great moment, let’s see whether this moment has substantial sources. What was even more lovely was that there were other sources opposed to it. So, I thought this is great, it’s damn good that we get a counter-dialogue. Like, Sardar did not say this, he said this. So, it became a starting point for the writers.” Moreover, “Arif was as Jinnah was, Ira was as Fatima was, and Malishka was as Sarojini Naidu was, so there will be a hundred people who will say no. Like, what is this? Jinnah didn’t smoke like this. They are possibly right. They know more about the subject than we do, but we’ve stuck to the book, and we’ve tried to stay true and honest with the book.”
Also Read: Exclusive: RJ Malishka On Making Debut With Freedom At Midnight: “Who Would Say No To This Show?”