The standout performance here comes from Arif Zakaria, who plays Jinnah. Ever since his haunting performance in Vikram Bhatt’s Haunted and that too in 3D (no puns), even his pious characters suggest something devilish
Cast: Sidhant Gupta, Chirag Vohra, Rajendra Chawla, Arif Zakaria, Ira Dubey, Malishka Mendonsa
Director: Nikkhil Advani
Language: Hindi
It is always fascinating to watch stories that have unfolded for real. The one story that has been told time and again is about the nation’s independence. It will be interesting to know how many people actually contributed to the day of August 15, 1947. We have already been told about the first man who demanded that the nation be set free from the ruthless and remorseless rule of the British Raj. The name was Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy. And who can forget the time when we had three movies on Bhagat Singh one after another 24 years back? Ever since the boom of the streaming platform, especially during the pandemic, we have kind of ben seduced by intricate and complex storytelling. Cinema often has myopic and skewed narratives about stories inspired by true events.
And that’s precisely why Nikkhil Advani’s
_Freedom At Midnight_, which oscillated between tense and terse in its first season, gets its groove in the second. It’s more intriguing and intense, and the performances land the way they should have. Maybe everything that happened in season one was the tip of the iceberg. If you see the trailer, it has been divided into at least seven chapters. And that is exactly what happens in the show. The second chapter is calls Tryst With Destiny. This happens to be the name of the speech that the first Prime Minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru delivered on the night when the nation gained independence. But the aftermath was traumatic as the nation was divided into India and Pakistan. And the team behind the series has encapsulated multiple events and woven it smartly into the dense narrative.
This thing called a cliffhanger is mostly used for effect in shows and even movies, but it works in
_Freedom At Midnight_ because India as a nation never ran out of problems. Only five months after India’s independence, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated and his last words were Hey Ram. This also happens to be one of the chapters in the show. Advani never allows his characters to become caricatures, especially because we have seen them in multiple movies before. Right from Nehru to Gandhi to Jinnah, the fictional representation of these real life people has yielded mixed results. But the portrayal works here as the actors are in complete control of their craft.
The standout performance here comes from Arif Zakaria, who plays Jinnah. Ever since we have chanced upon his haunting performance in Vikram Bhatt’s Haunted and that too in 3D (no puns), even his pious characters suggest something devilish. And the actor looks restrained and yet sinister.
Nikkhil Advani has directed some of the biggest stars in the country. The reason why he may have opted for an ensemble of underrated and seasoned actors for his ambitious show is because he may not have wanted the vanity of a star to come its way. Even the conversations that happen in the show are able to leave an impact. It’s gripping and keeps you on the edge.
Freedom At Midnight season two is a show that has come right at the beginning of the year. It’s a hopeful beginning for 2026. And the captain of the ship, who began with a romantic comedy, and made a couple of intriguing titles in between that unfortunately didn’t work, shows how the streaming platform has allowed him to rediscover his voice. It will be interesting to see what the director makes next.
Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)
Freedom At Midnight season 2 is now streaming on SonyLIV
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