00:00It feels weird, I can't even hear myself but I am holding the mic.
00:08Wow, where do I start? You have asked such a deep and long question.
00:13Of course I had to surrender, there is no other way.
00:16The pace at which he works first of all, the only way is to surrender and that is his gift.
00:22And I am really thankful that I have met, I could meet with that, with his gift.
00:27Because it creates a firework, when you watch the series you will feel the rush, adrenaline.
00:33And people are used to that and it will take you as audiences.
00:36So I think apart from that, talking about the character,
00:41you know by understanding the character you understand yourself as well.
00:45I have understood that I am quite obsessed with the characters that I choose.
00:52Neither I leave them nor they leave me.
00:55And yeah, there is no limit.
00:59They have to live, they have to merge their thoughts with their own thoughts,
01:05align them and then believe.
01:08It's a game of make-believe at the end of the day.
01:11There is no other way, you have to believe enough to be able to become.
01:17Yeah, so I keep playing that game.
01:21I think there were moments when I actually felt that I am more comfortable in his skin than in my own.
01:30I really and there were no scary moments because he is so much better as a human being than I am I think.
01:38You know, so I was like, it's a consistent dialogue inside of you, you know, end of the day.
01:43And you know, you feel that essence and you feel that energy and people feel that through you
01:48and through the lens that captures you.
01:51And you know, and so like you said that there were times when I actually truly felt that
01:57am I more comfortable as Nehru?
01:59And you know, when I used to go home and then I used to just and then you just surrender.
02:04There's no other way.
02:05And they didn't give me much time.
02:07They got more time, I think, you know.
02:10As in character, it was not difficult because everything was written.
02:14Yes, as a personal level, if you are facing such situations that if you ever need it,
02:21then at what level do you handle it?
02:24That maturity, all this while playing Sardar Patel, in that process,
02:31there are many things, you take Nehru home every day,
02:35I used to take Sardar Patel home every now and then.
02:38But I feel also that for us, as a group of unit, there were times that we also,
02:47when Sardar has to take the line and say,
02:53when Sardar has to take the line and say,
03:06which is a straightforward line, which is, you know, we should move on.
03:10Let's move on with it.
03:15Even if we have to do this, let's do it.
03:19I remember Rajendra coming and saying,
03:21I am taking a call to which we had the speeches and the conversation and books,
03:30not only Freedom at Midnight,
03:32we were working with such material,
03:37where people can always stand up and say that this didn't happen.
03:41So we made sure that wherever the beats where we were taking a stand
03:45was backed by 2-3 different sources also.
03:48Sometimes their biographies, sometimes what had been written about Bapu and Mahatma Gandhi,
03:55some stuff that Nehru had written, letters to his daughter, everything.
04:00The team had read everything.
04:06And after that, there was a legal team also that was reading everything.
04:09So there was a lot of research.
04:16Yeah, so we had decided that when you are making a period piece,
04:21the first thing is to do everything in Sepia.
04:24Oh wow, it's Sepia.
04:27So we decided that there will be no Sepia.
04:30The reference for us became Crown.
04:34The show that Crown did, that became very, very strong,
04:39backlight coming out from the window, one source of light.
04:43Hardly any lighting was happening other than the normal practicals.
04:48So if Nehru is sitting next to a lamp, that is the light source.
04:51If Gandhi is sitting by a window, that is the light source.
04:55Also, because all these characters, if I just put them in silhouettes,
05:02you will know who it is.
05:03Have you seen the first episode?
05:05Yeah.
05:06So the beginning shot, the minute Malay, my DOP said that I want to shoot from the back.
05:11And the minute Chirag entered the frame, you don't have to know.
05:16You don't have to say, oh, this is a revelation of who? Gandhi.
05:19This is Mahatma Gandhi.
05:21Very beautifully this thing.
05:23And it is not the first sequence.
05:24It was not in the script.
05:25It's not the first sequence of the show.
05:27But when I saw it and the way it had been done,
05:30and the way it was evocative, it sets you up for, you know,
05:34that there is a man who is basically saying,
05:38I said it.
05:41Over.
05:42I said it.
05:43And the book ends.
05:44From this scene to the death of Gandhi is the last scene.
05:48So that became my, this thing, right?
05:51So the palette, Malay and Ayesha Dasgupta, who is the costume,
05:57and Priya and Surabhi and the production designers,
06:00they sat together and they said, okay, the Jinnah family will be this.
06:05The Congress will be this.
06:07The Muslim League will be this.
06:09We knew that Hindus and Sikhs are killing Muslims,
06:15and Muslims are killing Hindus and Sikhs,
06:17and there's riots happening, and there's madness happening.
06:21And the first thing I said, I don't want skullcap.
06:25I don't want skullcap.
06:27I don't want saffron.
06:32But how can we then do this?
06:34So then we gave it.
06:35But we made everything black and white.
06:40So for me, it became ki sab ek hai.
06:44Sab paagal hai.
06:45Sab ek doosre ko mar rahe hain.
06:47If you are brainwashed, I am brainwashed.
06:50If you are anxious, I am anxious.
06:52If you are afraid, I am afraid.
06:54If you are confused, I am confused.
06:56Kya hone wala hai? Kaise hone wala hai?
06:58Itni affai chal rahi hai.
07:00Which you will see in season two.
07:02Itni affai chal rahi hai.
07:04Sunna hai ki aapka ghar us taraf chala gaye.
07:07Are? You know?
07:09Kaise? How?
07:10Social media toh tha nahi.
07:11WhatsApp nahi tha.
07:12So it was just madness.
07:14And I wanted to capture that.
07:21Main sabse pehle toh yeh kaunga ki,
07:23Gandhi ji ke naam ke aage hum mahatma likhte hain.
07:26Jisse father of the nation kaha jaata hai.
07:30Aur maine apne bachpan se Gandhi ji ko
07:32hamesha usi tarah se dekha hai.
07:35Mere family me bhi,
07:37Mere paternal uncle hain.
07:42Wo freedom struggle mein rahe the.
07:44Movements mein.
07:45Aur wo jail bhi jaa chuka hain.
07:47Aur maine apna bachpan unko dekhte hue guzaara hai.
07:50So mere liye Gandhi ji hamesha hero the.
07:53Aur hamesha rahenge.
07:55So mere liye waisa kuch nahi tha ki
07:59In fact, freedom at midnight ke chalte
08:02Mere liye, mere dil mein unke liye sammaan aur badh gaya hai.
08:06Kyunki unke, yaani freedom jo last dino mein
08:10Jab unpe kya beeti hogi.
08:13Yaani mai samajhta hu ki,
08:15Aur uske baabajood bhi wo hamesha strong rahe ki
08:17Mai hamesha, mai ek dekhna chahta hu desh ko.
08:21Mai bata hua dahi dekhna chahta hain.
08:23Aur aaj ki tarikh mein,
08:28Kuch bhi opinion apna baan sakta hai.
08:31Par Gandhi ji ke intention ke baare mein
08:33Aapki do rai nahi ho sakti.
08:35Nation ke liye hamesha unhone,
08:37Hamesha nation ko aage rakha hai.
08:39Desh ko aage rakha hai.
08:40Aur desh ke liye hi unhone apni jaan diye.
08:42To, wo hamesha.
08:43Aur jinhone sirf,
08:45Hamare desh ke crore logon ko nahi,
08:47Duniya bhar mein logon ko inspire kiya hai.
08:49Aise insaan ke liye,
08:51Aapke dil mein koi aur bhavna ho hi nahi sakti.
08:55Huni hi nahi chahiye.
08:57So, mai samajhta hu ki wo hamesha se hero the aur hero rahenge.
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