Cast: Sidhant Gupta, Chirag Vohra, Rajendra Chawla, Luke McGibney, Cordelia Bugeja, Arif Zakaria, Pawan Chopra, Ira Dubey, Rajesh Kumar, Abhishek Banerjee, KC Shankar, Anurag Thakur
Creator: Nikkhil Advani
Rating: ★★★★
Freedom at Midnight has often been compared to The Crown, Peter Morgan’s definitive series on the British royal family, which changed the way modern history is depicted in fiction. However, to be fair to Freedom at Midnight, it tackles a much more challenging task - showcasing the historical figures of the subcontinent who are revered as demigods and despised as villains almost simultaneously. Taking any one tone puts the whole enterprise at risk of being branded biased.
Freedom at Midnight Season 2 review: The series stars Sidhant Gupta, Chirag Vohra, and Rajendra Chawla.
This is the line the second season of Nikkhil Advani’s show takes. It is detailed, audacious, meticulous, yet sensitive. It takes the viewer into rooms and conversations that we have only read about in history and figures we have only read of or seen in monochrome pictures. And it makes them come alive as human figures, with faults, just like hours. The series is far from perfect. It does betray some of the maker’s own biases and leanings, but it is still engaging. And it tackles an issue as sensitive as the Partition with the respect and tenderness it deserves.
The premise
Season 2 of Freedom at Midnight begins in 1947 as the British are planning to leave India as hastily as they can. It traverses the formation of the boundary commission, sees Jinnah and Nehru’s ego clashes over the Partition, and also sees Sardar Patel and VP Menon deftly handling the 562 Princely States, including Junagadh and Kashmir. But it devotes its most significant portion to the widening divide between Nehru and Gandhi during the Partition, the ensuing riots, and the 1947 Kashmir War.
What works
Freedom at Midnight knows that patriotism has different hues. It need not always be loud. That is a grammar that has worked in everything from Gadar to Dhurandhar. But a more staid approach can also work, where the ‘enemy’ is not always loud and clear. The second season deals with events that are much more personal to Indians - the Partition, accession of Kashmir, and the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. The show needs to navigate the communal divide and the inner minds of divisive figures in a world that is forgetting nuance or the need for it.
And it does so beautifully. Freedom at Midnight’s victory lies in its ability to present this as a human drama, instead of a historical epic. The stakes are high, but our focus always remains on what those stakes mean for our protagonists, not the nation at large. Nehru wants Kashmir because it is his home. Patel is frustrated with Jinnah’s changing demands, and Gandhi feels alienated that his two proteges no longer follow his path. These are human concerns, linked to geopolitical upheavals. But the way the show deals with them helps the viewer connect more to the characters as well as the incidents.
What irks
There are still a few things that drag out in Freedom at Midnight. The show simplifies and caricaturises anyone who is not part of the Indian establishment. Jinnah is reduced to a scheming, annoyed devious man, and Liaquat Ali Khan to a bumbling assistant. Even Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir is presented as a parody of a man. It is in stark contrast to the painful meticulous details taken to portray Nehru and Gandhi as men and not just figures. I get the lens with which the story has been told is Indian, and hence the Indians will be heroes. But the ‘villains’ need not always be as unidimensional as the ones here. A little grey would have made this canvas even richer.
Abhimanyu Mathur is Deputy Editor, Entertainment at Hindustan Times. With almost 15 years of experience in writing about everything from films and TV shows to cricket matches and elections, he inhales and exhales pop culture and news. Currently, he watches movies and TV shows and talks to celebrities for a living, while occasionally writing about them as well.
A journalism graduate of Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi University, Abhimanyu began his career with Hindustan Times at the age of 20, swapping classrooms for newsrooms at an early age. He began his journey in the early days of digital journalism, later switching to the madness of print journalism.
Work has led him to far off places like Japan and Jordan, as well as to the interiors of Haryana and the Indo-Pak border. He dabbled in city reporting in places like Meerut, Gurgaon, and Delhi, covered the Olympics and Cricket World Cups, before finding his calling in entertainment and lifestyle during the pandemic. A Rotten Tomatoes Certified Film Critic, he is equally at home covering stories on ground as he is interviewing celebrities and studios, and sometimes prefers to shepherd teams in delivering traffic through the day.
Even as his role has evolved from reporter to supervisor over the years, his first love remains writing (and of late, talking on camera). With a good understanding of cinema and its trends, and a keen eye for detail, he continues to spark conversations around showbiz for readers around the world.Read More
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