Nikkhil Advani on 'Freedom at Midnight 2'

“The six writers — Abhinandan Gupta, Gundeep Kaur, Adwitiya Kareng Das, Divy Nidhi Sharma, Revanta Sarabhai and Ethan Taylor — had their own team. Though the book was our source material, we realised that there are certain things mentioned in it that might be questionable today and that might be only one person’s perspective. We had to figure out how to create a scene in such a way that we were taking into account other perspectives and information that are available to us right now. I am not here to provoke anyone. I basically want to take the viewers into that room, where Gandhi, Nehru and Sardar Patel are talking or where Nehru is having a conversation with Mountbatten. I want the viewers to experience their reactions or the process of taking a decision as they were dealing with a lot of chaos and emotions at that time. Retrospect is a powerful tool. Looking back, anyone can say, if they had done this or that, this would not have happened. For instance, if everybody knew that Muhammad Ali Jinnah was dying (he passed away 13 months after Pakistan was formed), the Partition may never have taken place.”

“It’s very simple to do if it’s great material that you are working with. This writing room was one of the best I’ve ever worked with. The writers were wonderful. My only brief to Divy Nidhi was that I want Salim-Javed type dialogues. Mainly because Indian viewers remember songs and dialogues. The readings, the writing and the incredible actors contributed to deciding the tone. When the cast features actors such as Rajendra Chawla, Sidhant Gupta, Arif Zakaria and Chirag Vora, my job becomes easy. Then, I follow what Irrfan once told me: ‘If you have a good team, script and actors, you sit behind the monitor and mazze loot (have fun)’.”