SonyLIV Lines Up “Highest Budget” Original Drama Series ‘Freedom At Midnight’; Reveals Global Streaming Ambitions

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: SonyLIV has ordered its most ambitious original series to date, an adaptation of Indian independence non-fiction book Freedom at Midnight, as the streamer gears up to become a global service within three years.News of the series order came in a wide ranging interview with SonyLIV Executive Vice President and Business Head Danish Khan, who also oversees Sony Entertainment Television and production arm Studio NEXT.

During the chat he addressed several other new commissions, global expansion plans and the future of the popular Scam crime thriller brand.Drama series Freedom of Midnight is based on a non-fiction book by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins and billed as an epic political thriller set in 1947, the year of Indian independence and partition.

Abhinandan Gupta, Adwitiya Kareng Das and Gundeep Kaur are adapting the text as writers.“Independence wasn’t just one shift from British rule to an Indian democratic system.

It was made up of many elements, players, subtext and undercurrents and this text is very well researched about the inner workings of the days leading to Indian independence,” Khan told Deadline.SonyLIV sister firm Studio NEXT is working on Freedom at Midnight with Emmay Entertainment trio Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani and Nikkhil Advani, who are producing with the latter working as showrunner. “We have the right partner — Nikkhil Advani did a fantastic job with our Rocket Boy series,” said Khan.The second season of Rocket Boy — about the men behind India’s nuclear and space programs — is one of several other upcoming SonyLIV originals, with the others including Vikas Bahl’s Good Bad Girl; in-house production Faadu; Tanaav, an adaptation of Israeli drama Fauda; and Garmi, which is from