- Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948, at Birla House in Delhi
- The last episode of Freedom At Midnight 2 series shows Mahatma Gandhi's assassination
- Director Nikkhil Advani tells NDTV why the series does not show Nathuram Godse's face or name
Seventy-eight years ago, on this day, Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse at Delhi's Birla House. Nathuram Godse shot Mahatma Gandhi three times at close range when he was walking up to a multi-faith prayer meeting on the evening of January 30, 1948.
Nikkhil Advani revisits that day in his series Freedom At Midnight 2, based on the book of the same name by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. In the last episode of the two-part Sony LIV show, the viewer never sees the face of the killer of the Mahatma, played by Chirag Vohra, let alone hears his name.
All we get is "NVG", the initials of Nathuram Godse's full name, Nathuram Vinayak Godse.
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Nikkhil Advani revealed why he chose not to name Nathuram Godse in Freedom At Midnight 2.
The director, also known for Kal Ho Naa Ho, D-Day, Rocket Boys, and the upcoming The Revolutionaries, said the episode unfolds from the point of view of DIG Delhi DW Mehra (Sidharth Bhardwaj) and Union Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Rajendra Chawla).
"To them, Nathuram Godse was a ghost. To them, he was nameless. They thought they had the information but they only had half the information... If the entire last episode was seen from the point of view of the men who assassinated Gandhi you would hear all their names, see all their faces because they saw each other," Nikkhil Advani told NDTV.
Neither did DIG Delhi nor did anybody else see him, the series creator added.
"He was a nameless person on January 30, 1948 inside Birla House. So I only played him like that, like a shadow. If the scene was unfolding from any of the five people's point of view, you would have heard his name," he said.
Nathuram Godse was hanged at Ambala Central Jail on November 15, 1949 after being convicted for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.
Freedom At Midnight also stars Sidhant Gupta, Arif Zakaria, Ira Dubey, Malishka Mendonsa, Rajesh Kumar, KC Shankar, Luke McGibney, Cordelia Bugeja, Alistair Finlay, Andrew Cullum, and Richard Teverson in prominent roles.
