Indian History Could Have Changed If…

‘Had
these
leaders
known
that
Jinnah
was
dying…’

Arif
Zakaria
says
he


was
fated
to
play
Muhammad
Ali
Jinnah,
the
leader
of
the
All-India
Muslim
League
from
1913
and
the
first
governor
general
of
Pakistan,
in
Nikkhil
Advani’s
series

Freedom
At
Midnight.

As
he
looks
back
at
history,
Zakaria
—
whose
paternal
uncle
Dr
Rafiq
Zakaria
wrote

The
Man
Who
Divided
India,
a
devastating
critique
of
Jinnah
—
tells



Rediff.com‘s
Senior
Contributor

Roshmila
Bhattacharya,
“Despite
his
ailing
demeanour,
as
you
see
in
the
show,
he
tried
to
keep
anyone
from
guessing
that
mortality
had
hit
him
and
in
two
years,
he
would
be
gone.”

Nikkhil
Advani
didn’t
want
his
actors
to
do
any
work
that
was
diametrically
opposite
to
the
characters
they
were
playing.
Did
this
mean
that
it
was
just

Freedom
At
Midnight
for
a
year-and-a-half?

Yes,
it
was
because
I
had
to
lose
a
little
weight
and
we
had
elaborate
shoots.

A
project
of
this
scale
demands
a
lot
of
attention
and
energy,
there
was
no
time
to
divest
it
on
anything
else.

It’s
not
a
heroic
statement,
it
just
happened.

Frankly,
there
was
no
other
great
offer
that
I
had
to
mull
over
or
balance.

It’s
good
that
I
focused
on
it,
you
get
it
out
of
your
system
and
you
are
free
now.

In
retrospect,
would
Partition
and
Pakistan
have
happened
had
leaders
like
Gandhi,
Nehru,
Patel
and
Mountbatten
had
known
Jinnah
was
so
gravely
ill?

In
the
seventh
episode
which
covers
a
flashback
of
Jinnah
and
Gandhi,
there’s
a
scene
during
the
1920
session
of
the
Congress
in
Nagpur
when
Jinnah
doesn’t
confirm
Gandhi’s

satyagraha
movement
because
he
has
his
own
reasons.

While
watching
it,
I
was
thinking
that
had
Jinnah
agreed,
life
might
have
been
different.

Gandhi
had
even
proposed
giving
him
power,
believing
it
would
solve
a
lot
of
issues.

But
then
had
Alexander
not
set
out
from
his
home
to
conquer
the
world
or
if
Hitler
had
a
different
ideology,
maybe
the
course
of
history
anywhere
in
the
world
would
have
been
different,
right?

It
is
subjective,
but
interesting
to
look
back
in
time
and
see
how
one
trigger
point
caused
something
to
happen.

Yes,
as
you
say,
maybe
had
these
leaders
known
that
Jinnah
was
dying,
it
might
have
altered
the
course
of
our
history.

But
did
people
really
know
Jinnah
was
dying
even
after
Partition
and
the
formation
of
Pakistan?

I’m
not
very
factual
with
history,
so
I
really
don’t
know
if
barring
his
sister,
Fatima
Jinnah,
anyone
was
aware.

From
what
I
have
read
and
heard
through
books,
it
was
a
well-kept
secret
with
his
doctors.

Despite
his
ailing
demeanour,
as
you
see
in
the
show,
he
tried
to
keep
anyone
from
guessing
that
mortality
had
hit
him
and
in
two
years,
he
would
be
gone.

Have
you
ever
been
to
Pakistan?

Yes,
as
part
of
a
theatre
group
in
2013-2014,
for
a
world
theatre
festival.

Several
Indian
groups,
like
the
NSD
(National
School
of
Drama),
visited
Lahore
at
the
time.

It’s
a
stunning
city
and
the
people
were
very
hospitable.

We
performed
there
and
came
back
in
a
week’s
time.

What
next?

Oh,
I’ve
done
a
lot
of
work,
but
now
the
noise
is
so
much
that
you
get
hidden
if
you
are
not
right
up.

I
finished
shooting

Special
Ops
Season
2
with
Neeraj
Pandey
last
year,
before

Freedom
At
Midnight
began.

There’s

Heer
Zara
Aur
Pondicherry
a
beautiful
romcom
by
a
new
director,
Kartik
Choudhry.

I
also
shot
for
another
web
show
with
a
director
called
Abhigyan
Jha,

The
Socho
Project,
two
years
ago.

You
used
to
write
a
weekly
column…

Yes,

Potshots
and
Pleasures,
for

HT
Cafe,
when
Khalid
Mohamed
was
the
editor.

It
happened
for
a
lark,
it’s
one
of
the
exercises
I
enjoyed
as
I
always
liked
writing
as
a
silent
hobby.

People
have
told
me
to
write
blogs,
but
I’m
not
motivated.

(Laughs)
Unless
there
is
a
deadline
and
you
call
to
say
you
need
it
for
printing
by
say
Monday,
it
is
not
going
to
happen.

Ever
thought
of
writing
your
memoirs?

I
haven’t
led
such
a
varied
and
rich
life
that
people
would
buy
a
book
on
me.

(Laughs)
But
who
knows,
maybe
in
a
few
years.