EXCLUSIVE: SonyLIV’s formidable Indian independence drama Freedom at Midnight has added British solid.
Cordelia Bugeja (EastEnders, Household Affairs), Richard Teverson (The Crown, Downton Abbey), Luke McGibney (Thriller Island, Containment), Andrew Cullum (The Crown, The Black Prince) and Alistair Findlay (Highlander, Woman Chatterley’s Lover) have joined the collection, which charts India’s wrestle for independence and subsequent partition.
McGibney and Bugeja will play the final Viceroy and Vicereine of India, Lord Louis Mountbatten and Woman Edwina Mountbatten, respectively. Finlay is Archibald Wavell, the Commander-in-Chief and Viceroy of India previous Mountbatten. Cullum brings to life Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of the UK from 1945 to 1951, whereas Teverson portrays Cyril Radcliffe, the chairman of the Boundary Fee for the Partition of India.
They be a part of Sidhant Gupta (Jubilee), who stars as Jawaharlal Nehru, the primary Prime Minister of unbiased India, Chirag Vohra (Rip-off 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story) as Mahatma Gandhi and Rajendra Chawla (Looop Lapeta) as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the primary deputy Prime Minister and Dwelling Minister of India.
Tailored from a ebook by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, Freedom at Midnight is one in every of streamer SonyLIV’s huge bets of 2024, promising “an immersive dive into one in every of India’s most pivotal eras” — as Indian folks started pushing for Indian wrestle for independence from the British Empire and the next partitioning of the nation into India and Pakistan. The collection will charts the historical past from early requires self-rule to the second of independence in 1947, and delve into the motivations, conflicts and sacrifices of key figures like Gandhi, Nehru and Patel.
Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani’s Emmay Leisure is producing in affiliation with StudioNext and Sony LIV. Nikkhil Advani serves as showrunner and director. Abhinandan Gupta, Adwitiya Kareng Das, Gundeep Kaur, Divya Nidhi Sharma, Revanta Sarabhai and Ethan Taylor have written the scripts.
Danish Khan, Enterprise Head of Sony LIV and StudioNext, stated: “We at Sony LIV are delighted to current Freedom at Midnight based mostly on the literary masterpiece of the identical identify. This collection will inform the electrifying story of Indian Independence historical past with depth and authenticity. Underneath the management of Nikkhil Advani and his remarkably expert group, the transition from web page to display screen can be nothing in need of extraordinary.
“We at Sony LIV, StudioNext and Emmay consider this story has big relevance and can provide nice understanding and insights to our audiences internationally about ‘what, why and the way’ of the occasions that led to partition and at last Indian independence.
Like Emmay’s earlier collection set throughout the early days of Indian independence, Rocket Boys, the collection goals to seize pivotal developments within the nation’s historical past. Nevertheless, that present didn’t have worldwide solid, one thing Advani stated was “one of many greatest regrets that we had.”
“Covid and lockdown prevented us from doing that,” he added. “After we began the casting of Freedom at Midnight each Sony LIV and us have been decided to appropriate that. Lord Louis Mountbatten, his spouse Woman Edwina Mountbatten play integral roles that decided the result of the partition of the sub-continent.
“Then in fact there may be Atlee, Wavel and Radcliffe: Males that modified the course of contemporary day India. We have been decided to make use of iconic footage and footage of some seminal moments. And so, we needed to get the actors who not solely bodily resembled these historic figures however those that would problem the tremendous Indian actors we had solid”.
McGibney stated: “As Mountbatten, I step into the sneakers of a pivotal determine in India’s historical past. Mountbatten’s function throughout the switch of energy and partition was each profound and controversial. It’s a captivating problem to faucet into the complexities of a personality who wielded immense affect throughout a essential interval. From his tenure because the final Viceroy of India to the tumultuous aftermath of partition, Freedom at Midnight permits us to discover his relationships and choices that altered the course of countries.”
The information of the casting comes quickly after Deadline revealed Tom Felton, James Murray and a bunch of British actors had joined Gandhi, one other big-ticket Indian drama collection aimed toward recalling essential twentieth Century Indian historical past.