Freedom at Midnight review: Powerful portrayal of Partition, amped by stellar acting

At the stroke of midnight on August 14, 1947, India gained freedom from over 200 years of British colonial rule. Take, for example, lines like "Aam aadmi vo badlaav laa sakta hai jo sarkaar saalon mein nahi laa sakti" or "Ye log Hindu hone se pehle bhi Punjabi ya Bengali hain". The central characters in the show include Lord Mountbatten, the great-grandson of Queen Victoria, who constantly haggles with Jawaharlal Nehru, the leader of the Congress party, torn between his principles and his party’s ideals; Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the fanatical leader of the Muslim League, who sees only two options: "Ya toh Hindustan batega ya barbaad hoga" ; and Mahatma Gandhi, who ultimately gives up his dream of a united India, over the terms of how an independent India will move forward. Siddhant Gupta, who was well admired in Prime Video's Jubilee, once again proves his acting prowess as he steps into the role of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru. Nikkhil Advani closes the show just before the horrors of the Partition unfold on India's land, accompanied by the song "Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je, peer paraayi jaani re".