How Ram Madhvani’s experiences with racism led to ‘waking up a nation’
The Indian historic drama series ‘The Waking of a Nation’ by Sonyliv, directed by the highly praised filmmaker Ram Madhvani, investigates the unprecedented conspiracies around the Jallianwala Bagh Bleedbad from 1919 by a lens deeply informed by the personal experiences of the director with racism.
The series is set against the background of a notorious event in the Indian colonial history, the Jallianwala Bagh Bleedbad, which took place on 13 April 1919. A large peaceful protest meeting, part of the Indian independence movement, took place in the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab. British troops led by Brigadier General Reh Dyer surrounded the location, blocked the only exit and opened the fire at the meeting, causing the death of hundreds and injured thousands.
The massacre is considered a crucial moment in the Indian freedom movement. A committee, led by Lord Hunter, was appointed by the British Indian government in October of that year to view the events in the Punjab.
“This is not about the massacre. I don’t even show it in a certain way. It is about the committee, “Madhvani, maker of the Emmy-nominated Disney+ Hotstar series” Aarya “and director of Netflix original film” Dhamaka “, says Variety. “But more than that, it’s about racism and colonization, and things that bothered me about how this happened to us.”
The series with six episodes, co-produced by RAM and Amita Madhvani, was partly born from a traumatic meeting that the filmmaker has been haunting for decades. During his first trip to London with his mother years ago, Madhvani tried to cross a aisle of the plane when a white passenger confronted him with the words that now inform his creative approach: “Sit down, you Brown Bastard.”
“I was so shocked that I just sat down,” Madhvani recalls. “That humiliation stayed with me. Why is there ‘the burden of the white’? Why is there a superiority? Why were we called natives? Why did we learn to eat with forks and knives and not with our hands? ‘
This incident catalyzed Madhvani’s exploration of colonial identity and historical story. “It is disturbing me – the colonization of our lives and ourselves,” he explains. “The English, the British, at least came and colonized our country. The Americans came and colonized our mind, and now we can’t even throw them away. So at least the British, we could say, “Stop India.” But what do you do with the Americans? ”
Awaking a nation
Sonyliv
Instead of reinforcing the massacre itself, the series examines the causes and aftermath, in particular aimed at the committee that has investigated the tragedy. Madhvani positions General Dyer, who ordered troops to shoot at unarmed citizens, as ‘the autumn man’ in a larger imperial conspiracy.
“You can’t just go from your own movement to a peaceful audience and start shooting,” he says. “If you read the commission reports, he is completely not apologetic about what he did. It’s shocking. But if you dig a little deeper, there is a character named Hans Raj, who is a police informant. And nobody knows where he went. There are many things that are part of the public domain, which says that the findings of the committee were a whitewash. “
The cast of the ensemble contains Taruk Raina as protagonist Kantilal Sahni next to Nikita Dutta, Sahil Mehta and Bhawsheel Singh Sahni. The four main characters represent a microcosm of the various religious communities of India, with Hindu, Muslim and Sikh characters whose friendship is the emotional core of the story.
The production contains 12 British actors who, according to Madhvani, were largely not aware of this chapter in colonial history. “When they came, they said, people should know that this is what happened. This is what they did there. It is deleted here. ” ‘
Madhvani approaches the massacre with intentional restraint. ‘I stayed away from showing [the massacre] Because I want to respect what happened. I want to treat that with dignity, “he says. “I show the soldiers who come in, but then you see the people in the committee.”
Sonyliv supported Madhvani’s vision of authenticity, so that British actors can speak in English instead of accentuated Hindi. The filmmaker used his characteristic “System 360” approach: the use of long branches without “action” or “cutting”, shooting with natural lighting and focus on performance execution.
By ‘waking up a nation’, Madhvani tries to take questions about cultural identity and historical truth into account. “This is really about me who try to ask myself questions about roots,” he says. “I am a filmmaker who makes something about something that happened to me and that was personal for me and my own colonization.”
If successful, Madhvani hopes to develop a second season that focuses on the rebellion of 1857, by continuing his exploration of “How India is India” by historical drama. His ultimate goal transcends simple entertainment – it is about confronting historical erases and investigating the psychological impact of colonization that continues to resonate today.
“The Waking of a Nation” will float on Sonyliv from 7 March.
