I have gravitated towards real-life stories, says Nikkhil Advani

Nikkhil Advani's Emmay Entertainment has been on a roll of late. The production house’s feature film Bell Bottom (2021) was released in theatres on 19 August, while the period web-series The Empire (2021) was premiered on Disney+ Hotstar on 27 August.

Advani also launched the trailer for the upcoming Amazon Prime web-series Mumbai Diaries 26/11 (2021) at Mumbai’s Gateway of India last week.

The fictional medical drama, created by Nikkhil Advani and produced by Monisha Advani and Madhu Bhojwani, revolves around the stories of the unsung heroes, the doctors, nurses, paramedics and hospital staff who worked round-the-clock to save lives during the 26/11 terror attacks in 2008.

The ensemble cast of the web-series features Konkona Sensharma, Mohit Raina, Tina Desai, Shreya Dhanwanthary, Satyajeet Dubey, Natasha Bharadwaj, Mrunmayee Deshpande and Prakash Belawadi. Advani has co-directed the series with Nikhil Gonsalves.

The filmmaker said that when he spoke with a few 'frontline warriors' who worked that day in Mumbai, he was inspired by their stories.

Recalling his conversations with them, Advani said, “I am a Mumbaikar and I love the city, its resilience, the fact that it never gives up, it never sleeps, and all the lovely ways of describing the city, but we tend to forget the people who are responsible for making it what it is. When Aparna [Purohit, head of India originals at Amazon Prime Video] and I started talking about working on a show, we thought of making a medical drama.

“I told her let’s talk about guys who are at war every single day,” he continued. “And that’s what we have tried to do with Mumbai Diaries, to tell the stories of unlikely heroes whom nobody actually talks about and [everybody] takes them for granted.

“Fact is stranger than fiction. I have gravitated towards telling real-life stories. You just have to listen to people and their incredible stories. I have been fortunate enough to be allowed to do that, thanks to Amazon Prime Video,” he added.

In the wake of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the stories of these frontline warriors are more poignant than ever.