Mumbai, November 26 (IANS). Regarding the role of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in the historical drama series ‘Freedom at Midnight’, actor Pawan Chopra has said that playing this role was quite challenging.
The actor revealed that playing the character was challenging for him, as there is very little information available about the leader.
He said, “The most challenging was playing the role of Maulana Azad. There is very little video footage or reference material available about him. In contrast, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lala Nehru, Mountbatten and Mohammad Ali Jinnah had many strong scenes in the film. In the beginning I felt that Maulana Azad might pale in his presence.
The actor said, “I had to read the script several times to understand everything that was said about Maulana Azad. During this, I found that his secular views and strong opposition to Partition were the defining themes of his character. These aspects were meticulously written and were central to his ideology.”
The actor said that he had to bring out his character and personality so that the audience could recognize and understand him. The actor did not want the audience to think of him as just an actor wearing a hat or make-up, but for the audience to think of him as a character representing an important historical figure.
“The way his character was written made it easy for me to achieve it,” he said. He shot for the series for seven months and remained immersed in it.
The actor said, “It was a challenging role, because for seven months I had to maintain my weight, be consistent with the language and constantly think about Maulana Azad to ensure that his character was portrayed authentically by me. Came forward. For this I studied ‘India Wins Freedom’ and ‘Ghubar-e-Khatir’ in depth.”
He said, “Maulana Azad was an Islamic scholar and Nikhil Advani sir arranged for a coach, Shahnawaz, who helped and guided me in understanding the nuances of pronunciation. Maulana Azad’s contribution to the country’s independence is significant, but This is rarely shown on screen. He was the youngest Congress President in 1923 and still held the role from 1940 to 1946. is not widely talked about.”
–IANS
MT/AKJ
