In May, creator Sameer Nair and showrunner-director Hansal Mehta announced Gandhi, which aims to be a definitive series on Mahatma Gandhi. Five months on, work on the first season has picked up pace. 

“Writing is underway. Our soft prep begins in December, going on till March, followed by hard prep. The soft prep will include production design, costumes and locations. We are hard at work, and hope to start shooting by June-end,” says Nair, CEO, Applause Entertainment.

Retelling the story of the leader at the forefront of India’s freedom fight is no mean feat. Nair and Mehta have found the perfect source material in author-historian Ramachandra Guha’s Gandhi Before India, and Gandhi: The Years That Changed The World, two of the most comprehensive books on Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. While Pratik Gandhi of Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020) fame leads the multi-season series, casting for other key characters has begun.

Siddhartha Basu serves as the creative and historical consultant. “The team takes his help from time to time. Of course, we will run everything past Mr Guha,” states Nair.

The first edition will reportedly trace Gandhi’s early years, focusing on how his experiences in South Africa impacted his ideology.