Filmmaker Nikkhil Advani is a literature and history buff who thought he knew it all (just like Hermione Granger) until he came across Sanjeev Sanyal’s The Revolutionaries. Result: he made a show out of it with Prime Video.
Starring Bhuvan Bam, Rohit Saraf, Pratibha Ranta, and Gurfateh Pirzada, the upcoming Hindi series is based on Sanjeev Sanyal’s book Revolutionaries: The Other Story Of How India Won Its Freedom. It explores the lesser-known revolutionaries who played a key role in India’s freedom struggle, such as Rash Behari Bose, Sachindra Nath Sanyal, Pratibha Lahiri, and Bagha Jatin.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, The Revolutionaries director Nikkhil Advani, Prime Video’s Shilangi Mukherji, and author Sanjeev Sanyal talk about the mounting of a “swashbuckling action drama” based on real-life events for a streamer.
Nikkhil Advani said he felt “slightly ashamed” that he didn’t know anything about these revolutionaries that Sanjeev Sanyal had written about in his book.
“With a lot of immodesty, I consider myself very well read. I read a lot of literature, be it fiction, non-fiction, and history. A lot of what I do is based on the first lines of one of my favourite books Rise and Fall of The Third Reich – ‘Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.’
“I was shocked that I had not read it and that I didn’t know about these people. I should make some kind of correction. Then the wonderful Prime Video people called up and said, ‘We have the rights to this book. Would you like to do something about it?’ I said, ‘Yes!'” he said.
The director said he is grateful to Prime Video as the streamer simply asked him to “do whatever you want” with the source material. “Just enjoy yourself,” he recalled being told by the top brass.
So, Nikkhil Advani went ahead and made The Revolutionaries as a “big-scale action spectacle”, a complete contrast of his much-acclaimed and somber Freedom At Midnight, a two-part Sony LIV series.
Unlike Freedom At Midnight, another book-to-screen translation, The Revolutionaries is fast-paced and vibrant. And the creator-director said, “It’s no mistake. You can say it’s not like more Freedom At Midnight and less Revolutionaries.”
That’s exactly the reason why Nikkhil Advani chose to make this show.
“It’s the story of youth, madness, jazbaa… It’s not a mistake, it’s what was intended… That it will be this fast-paced kind of period drama.”
Shilangi Mukherji, Director and Head, SVOD Business, Prime Video, India, was only happy about collaborating with the director after the success of Mumbai Diaries 26/11. He also backed the series under his production banner Emmay Entertainment.
“We want to continue working with Nikkhil,” she said, adding there’s “something” about the director.
“He has the eye of a filmmaker, his films are very widely known, but he has also got the heart of a storyteller. Put it together on a streaming service, which is long form, sure we do binge drops, but these are eight episodes with a big canvas. We wanted someone who has tremendous craft and who can take this story with details that are not known,” she added.
Shilangi Mukherji said one needs a certain kind of craft to translate a much-loved book to screen.
“Nikkhil is the best person to do it. It is incredible to see how he has brought this cast together… Put the little nuances, details, the beauty with which this whole thing has been put together.”
For the author, their book is like their child. And one must toughen up when they hand over their child in the hands of a stranger, who would not only change its form but also reinterpret the story in his own manner.
And like a good parent, former bureaucrat Sanjeev Sanyal — also PM Narendra Modi’s Economic Advisor — ensured ‘his child’ was in good hands.
“Before I sold the rights, I did meet them several times. I felt quite comfortable. I have to say my instincts were right. The show has come out beautifully,” the economist-writer said, who is the great-nephew of Sachindra Nath Sanyal.
But the author has a “warning for the purists”.
“This is not a documentary. It is a cinematic representation, based on the book, of course, and true events. But it is done in the style of that medium. It is the story of swashbuckling adventure of these real-life heroes and that essence comes through the series as well. It is a story of espionage, assassination, betrayal, team spirit, love, cruelty, and all kinds of things. All of this is part of the actual events,” he said.
Sanjeev Sanyal also had an interesting observation to make.
“Whenever you think something is too outrageously Bollywood, do Google up the actual events. You will find the reality even more outrageous.”
Chiming in, Nikkhil Advani said he has “made a living out of” making shows on facts being stranger than fiction. After all, his credits also include Batla House, D-Day, and Rocket Boys.
“If I told you that 12 young men came across the bay in a rubber dinghy and took over Bombay for three days, you’d say ‘What is this nonsense? It’s not possible.’ But it happened. That’s what Mumbai Diaries 26/11 is all about,” he pointed out.
The Revolutionaries, set to premiere on Prime Video tomorrow, also stars Jason Shah, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Paoli Dam, Neil Bhoopalam, and KC Shankar.
