Freedom At Midnight OTT Review | Suchin Mehrotra | THR India

Suchin Mehrotra reviews "Freedom at Midnight," SonyLIV's ambitious historical drama from director Nikkhil Advani that chronicles the tense months leading up to India's independence and the devastating partition. This sprawling narrative attempts to humanize historical figures while exploring the complex political machinations that shaped a nation.

The series follows key players including Jawaharlal Nehru (Sidhant Gupta), Mahatma Gandhi (Chirag Vohra), and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Rajendra Chawla) as they navigate the challenging path to independence, while Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Arif Zakaria) leads the push for Pakistan. Suchin Mehrotra examines how the show, while tremendously sincere in its historical recreation, struggles to transcend its educational approach to deliver compelling human drama.

With impressive production design from Aisha Das Gupta, costumes by Suma and Priya Sas, and an extensive ensemble cast, "Freedom at Midnight" marks SonyLIV's most ambitious project to date. Suchin Mehrotra discusses how the series, despite its grand scale and important subject matter, falls short of creating an emotionally engaging narrative that brings these historical figures to life beyond their textbook representations.