Mumbai, Actor Sidhant Gupta, who plays Jawaharlal Nehru in “Freedom At Midnight”, says he was initially clueless about the approach he would take to essay the iconic real-life personality on screen until he read the third episode of the web series.
The seven-episode show, streaming on Sony LIV, is the actor’s first project since his breakout 2023 series “Jubilee”.
“Freedom at Midnight”, based on the celebrated book of the same name by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, is directed by Nikkhil Advani.
“I’m so obsessive about my characters… I didn’t know where I was, how I was going to go, how I was going to find this person. I felt so much respect and admiration for him when I researched him.
“When this came along, I read it, and I remember I was reading the third episode, all doors were closed, and there was no going out of this world. That’s when I knew that this felt right… I thought I was feeling the right emotions and then I chose this one,” Gupta told PTI.
The actor said he received many offers after the success of “Jubilee” but didn’t sign on a project until he found something that stayed with him much like the Prime Video period drama directed by Vikramaditya Motwane.
“I kept looking for something like that, that I read something and it stays inside, and it doesn’t leave me. You want to strive and face the challenge, be that character. I was longing for that feeling,” said Gupta, who won the hearts of audiences and critics with his performance as the aspiring filmmaker Jay Khanna in “Jubilee”.
“Freedom At Midnight” also stars Rajendra Chawla and Chirag Vohra in which they essay the roles of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Mahatma Gandhi, respectively.
This was not Vohra’s first time playing the role of Gandhi. He previously essayed the Father of the Nation in a play called “Gandhi Ke Godse”.
“To get a character like Mahatma Gandhi, and the confidence of the director in you that you can play this part… It’s my responsibility to give my best,” the “Scam 1992” actor said.
Chawla, known for his work in TV shows like “Family No. 1” and “Saas Bina Sasural” as well as movies such as “A Wednesday”, and Advani’s “Vedaa”, thanked the director for trusting him with the role of Patel.
“A lot of people told Nikkhil sir that I do many comedy roles but he didn’t grade me based on my record. He cast me because of the audition that I gave. This kind of confidence from a director and the praise coming from him… You feel you will get the fruit of all the hard work you’ve been doing for years,” he added.
To prepare for their roles, all three actors made a conscious decision to abstain from reading the source material.
Gupta said he swore by the script but also read Nehru’s autobiography and the letters he penned to his daughter Indira Gandhi.
“I didn’t read the book because I didn’t want to draw comparisons. I treated the script as everything,” he added.
To master Gandhi’s body language and speech pattern, Vohra said he watched several archival footage available on YouTube.
“I feel his punctuation was odd. I tried to imbibe it in a way so that the meaning of the dialogues remains the same, the gravity of the scene remains intact. All of this was interesting and challenging,” the actor said, adding he worked closely with Advani to explore the depths of his character.
Chawla, on the other hand, chose to rely solely on the script.
“I feel whoever has written books on Sardar Patel will bring their perspective about him, so I didn’t read any books. I also did not see the work of all those actors who have played the part in the past because if I see their work and imbibe something from it, then that wouldn’t be right. I went with a clean slate and followed Nikkhil sir’s perspective,” he added.
“Freedom at Midnight” also stars 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.
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