Vikramaditya Motwane, Satyanshu Singh reveal axing ‘politically sensitive’ plot about Indira Gandhi’s killers from Black Warrant

The seven-episode series captures the many aspects of life inside Tihar. When Vikramaditya asked if there was anything that Satyanshu felt should have been explored with more depth in the series, the latter said, “There are two things, which were both politically sensitive. Firstly, the entire Maqbool Bhat track. I think there was a lot in there, and in an ideal world, we could have had a separate episode for him.”

Addressing the criticism that came their way about going soft on Maqbool, Satyanshu said, “If we had showed the crime he committed, it would have balanced out that allegation that we were sympathetic to him. But, in fact, I strongly believe it is not right for anyone to kill anyone else. And the second thing that we missed out was the buildup to the killers of (Late Indian Prime Minister) Indira Gandhi.”

Here’s a snippet from the interview:

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Interestingly, Vikramaditya and Satyanshu discussed their planned cold open for the episode. “The fact that only when you see them outside Indira Gandhi’s residence that the audience would connect the dots that it was her killers’ story that they were following. It would have been interesting, but relegating them to cold opens didn’t allow for perspectives to be offered,” said Satyanshu, who also opened up about why they decided to do away with this idea in the final cut of Black Warrant.

“We needed more focus in the individual episodes. Every episode needed a sense of beginning, a middle, and an end. So, we went with cold opens that directly related to each episode,” said Satyanshu, and Vikramaditya chipped in with the inspiration behind going for such a start to every episode. “We were inspired by Mindhunter.”

Even though the makers moved past the idea of showcasing the journey of the late Prime Minister’s killers, they didn’t shy away from addressing the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. “In some way, it felt like a collective apology, as a nation, for what happened to the Sikhs in 1984, after the killing of Indira Gandhi. As storytellers, we are rendering an apology, saying, ‘We failed you’ and this thought was very overwhelming, because, as storytellers, we get to revisit history,” said Satyanshu, who also revealed that it was the experience of shooting these scenes that reaffirmed his faith in Vikramaditya. “After completing shooting that day, I texted my wife and told her that if there comes a time when I didn’t want to work with Vikramaditya anymore, I should be reminded of this day.”

ALSO READ: Black Warrant review: Insider account of Tihar Jail is gritty, as real as possible

Black Warrant, which stars Rahul Bhat, Paramvir Singh Cheema, Anurag Thakur, and Rajendra Gupta in pivotal roles, premiered on Netflix on January 10.