PremiumFreedom at Midnight: Arif Zakaria on playing Muhammad Ali Jinnah - 'I feel it was destined'; here's why | Exclusive
Arif Zakaria opened up about doing Freedom at Midnight and playing Muhammad Ali Jinnah. In OTTplay's interview, the actor shared how he prepared for the character.
Last Updated: 09.38 PM, Nov 09, 2024
Freedom at Midnight is one of the most awaited web shows of the year. Directed by Nikkhil Advani, the SonyLIV series will shed light on events around India's independence and partition. The web series, which boasts an ensemble star cast, stars Arif Zakaria as Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The late politician served as the leader of the All India Muslim League from 1913 until Pakistan's inception. In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, Arif opened up about doing Freedom at Midnight and portraying Muhammad Ali Jinnah on the screen.
Arif Zakaria on Freedom at Midnight, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and more
During a conversation with us, Arif Zakaria shared his first thoughts about Nikkhil Advani's Freedom at Midnight and how he came on board for the project. When asked about playing Muhammad Ali Jinnah's role, Arif told OTTplay, "Once or twice before, some offers had come for me to play Jinnah. Unfortunately, for some reason, it couldn't happen. Somewhere, I feel it was destined in a way (for me to play the role). So, when I got the first call saying they were considering me for Jinnah's role and I had to meet Nikkhil and when they said they were making the book, I was excited then because the book is very vast and huge."
For the uninitiated, Freedom at Midnight is based on Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins' book of the same name. Arif shared that he read this book as a child. In his first meeting with Nikkhil, Arif was made to read a conflict scene between Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Jawaharlal Nehru. Post that, the actor read the whole script of the series in Nikkhil's office.
"Each character's journey was well-etched in the first draft. What we shot was perhaps the filtered-down version of the original draft. But the kind of painstaking effort that had gone into recreating passages of the book is mindblowing. They must have drawn blood from their brain to condense the book into the script. Because the book is much more vast and beyond the script we have written. We are confined to time, space, and timeline. The way they had intelligently crafted it one and a half or two years ago before the shoot began — I was hooked and intrigued," shared Arif.
How did Arif prepare for Muhammad Ali Jinnah's role?
Talking about his preparation for his role in Freedom at Midnight, Arif Zakaria went through different processes. He revealed, "They put me through a dietician to lose a little weight because Jinnah was frail and he was dying in the last two to three years of his life between 1946 to 1948. There was a dialect coach for Urdu and English and there were reading sessions which happened. Then, I knew a production that is spending so much energy on these processes, the result has to be good."
On a concluding note, Arif said he knew Freedom at Midnight's team was 'on good wicket' when he saw the entire process in the first two days of the shoot. The series will premiere on November 15 on SonyLIV and OTTplay Premium.