00:00One reason which made me do the series is it's a very elaborate, complex, popular book and certain books you read all your life you think that nothing can be made on it, it's so complicated and layered.
00:17So when someone makes it and dares to make it, then you feel you are fortunate enough to have been called by them and to be a part of it.
00:27A. You play big iconic figures. The story is based upon many iconic big historical figures. I am playing Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
00:35To understand the complexity of the man, the mindset of the man and what made him, the factors which led to him being the Qaid-e-Azam.
00:48So this book, this story and this script more importantly shows it.
00:54So I felt it was no contest. As an actor one always looks for such parts and for such challenges and as simple as that really.
01:04Nothing beyond that and the production house is very reputed. Nikhil Advani is a very reputed director.
01:08His body of work is immense if you see it. So it was all in all, all positive great things in the project.
01:16And I just had to walk in and feel fortunate that I was a part of the project.
01:22Arif ji has said everything. Jokes aside I agree with Arif whatever he said about it's a terrific production house.
01:33Nikhil is somebody who is very passionate about his work and also this material.
01:37His passion for this subject because he is a big history buff is very infectious.
01:43And it shows in every aspect of this show. So I think we are very lucky to be part of it.
01:49But on top of that I also feel that partition, mere le I think the big attraction was immediately that somebody is making a show about partition.
01:58A time in our history and in our destiny as a race and as a country that we are so fascinated by.
02:05We don't know enough about and we don't know the full picture about.
02:08There are always so many angles and so many perspectives with which you can look at a time like that in history.
02:14So for me that was very exciting to be a part of someone, a group of people who are trying to tell a story about partition.
02:20And B playing a character like Fatima Jinnah who very few people know a lot about specially in our country.
02:28She was a very very strong woman who had a burning desire for Pakistan as much as her brother.
02:33And whose relationship with her brother was a very fascinating one.
02:36You don't see relationships like that very often. So as an actor it was very exciting and I found it to be a real challenge.
02:45I think all three of us have similar answers which is the truth.
02:53And I will tell you in listicle format Nikhil Advani and MA Entertainment and Sony Live.
02:58Eventually finding out that they are the ones who are going to take this amazing project forward.
03:04That is more than enough.
03:06But the most important one would have been that at such a stage of your career where you are almost at the beginning.
03:13You are being given such a big responsibility that you are a historical figure about whom the world knows.
03:20You are going to flesh them out and bring them in front of the world.
03:23That to me was one of the most interesting things.
03:26And number three was because I knew that through this I would get a chance to experience so much in just one series.
03:36Right from what it is like to shoot with crowds.
03:39What it is like, was it like 1947 say.
03:42What it is like to live in prosthetic makeup for hours and hours of your day.
03:48Sweating under it and yet delivering.
03:51I cannot tell you what this show.
03:53See what actors go through.
03:54It has been to understand that part of life.
03:57I feel like I have learnt everything in this one show.
04:00I mean I have learnt it, we will see in future.
04:05But there is no reason an actor would say no to something like Freedom at Midnight.
04:16Its impact on families, of course it did.
04:17I think in every family, in your family, in my family, in his family, in Arif sir's family.
04:25There are stories of partition.
04:27You will have some emotional connection with some relative or loved one from partition.
04:35So I think to tell us in 2024 again.
04:40What were the risks, what were the motivations, what was the thought process, what were the strategies.
04:46What were the costs at which our leaders took the decisions that they took.
04:50To not only get our freedom from the British Empire.
04:53But to also at what cost.
04:55The birth of one nation was the splitting of another very large nation.
04:59And what happened because of that.
05:01The repercussions of that, the ripple effect of that is still ongoing.
05:04Somebody just asked us about what we think about Hindu-Muslim strife, the relationship.
05:11It began that time, the time of Freedom at Midnight.
05:15And it is something that has been misinterpreted, blown out of proportion.
05:21It boils down to the individual of course.
05:24But it's important for us to understand the impact of what happened during those two years.
05:30Those very crucial years.
05:32Just before independence, right up to partition and just after.
05:38And yes, I think families today and especially young people, older people will resonate with it emotionally.
05:43The story, because of their own experiences.
05:46And younger people will get, it will be an eye-opener and an education for them.
05:50So it is a must watch.
05:57To a large extent, historically he has caused it.
06:00To a large extent.
06:04Also a lot of other factors were responsible to form the philosophy of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
06:10As we come to know through the show.
06:12So I think it's a very pivotal, if I can't use any other word.
06:17Which is a small word to use for Jinnah, I think he is an antagonist in the story.
06:21So I think from that point of view, it becomes a very pivotal part.
06:28And second part, I mean all characters in the show impact each other.
06:34There is no isolated impact of any character to another.
06:37If there was no Gandhi, perhaps there would be no Jinnah.
06:41If there was no Gandhi's non-cooperation philosophy he began with, there would be no talk of partition.
06:47The conflict which started that perhaps was the difference between Gandhi's ideology and Jinnah's.
06:52Gandhi had a much superior, I would say right now in hindsight.
06:56Because he travelled all over the world.
06:58Jinnah sat in his beautiful chamber and was an intellectual.
07:00He strategised well.
07:02Gave a philosophy which he thought may not work.
07:04But Gandhi's philosophy was based on hardcore village experience.
07:09Experiences he took when he travelled around India.
07:12So all the characters are interdependent on each other.
07:15There can't be anything in isolation of each other.
07:18So I think in that sense, it's a bouquet of diverse personalities in the show.
07:23Which makes it effective.
07:27I'm not saying he's shown as a villain in what we understand in a regular Bollywood film.
07:34They also have the gumption to show the reasons why Jinnah became who he was.
07:41Or who he is. Or the impression we have.
07:43What he did impacted millions of people, yes.
07:47What he did, whether it was right or wrong, is all subjective.
07:50Depends on what you feel.
07:51I as an Indian perhaps am impacted by that.
07:54And I feel, yes, I wish if the partition hadn't happened.
07:57Life would perhaps be different for all of us.
07:59For 1 billion people.
08:01How India would have been as a big country in the subcontinent.
08:05But that is not my lookout.
08:07I am confined to the written word.
08:09I am confined to what the script dictates Jinnah did.
08:14It's like any other villainous character in history.
08:17If I can say Ravan's character.
08:19Just to understand Hindu mythology.
08:21Ravan's character or Hitler's character.
08:23Or any other villain in even modern contemporary history.
08:27We understand as traditionally villains.
08:29Factors which lead them to behave the way they are.
08:32Why they behave in a certain way.
08:34What are the political factors?
08:36What are the social factors?
08:38What is their individual DNA?
08:40Which makes them behave in a strange, strong way.
08:42As a consequence of which they come out with an ideology.
08:45Which may seem convoluted.
08:48But it's always good to understand a strong, negative ideology.
08:54As opposed to understanding what a good, positive ideology could have been.
08:59I think that's the impact Jinnah has on all of us.
09:02Right or wrong is your perception.
09:04What you believe is right, so is the philosophy of the man.
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