Jubilee trailer: Fame, ambition and desire collide in early years of Bollywood in Vikramditya Motwane’s drama series

Vikramditya Motwane’s Jubilee has echoes of Bollywood’s early past, especially with its history with Bombay Talkies and Devika Rani. Set in 1947 Bombay, the newly independent nation is captivated by the stars of the silver screen. Prosenjit Chatterjee plays the owner of Roy Talkies; his wife (Aditi Rao Hydari) is having an affair with Madan Kumar (Nandish Sandhu). The furious studio head tasks Aparshakti Khurana’s Binod to bring her lover back to him. (Also read: Aparshakti Khurana and Aakriti Ahuja’s sweet conversation with daughter Arzoie will make you say aww. Watch)

In a series of events, Madan and Binod get into a car accident and Binod takes his place and becomes a beloved film star. But the price of stardom begins to affect Binod eventually as he has little autonomy over his life. Wamiqa Gabbi plays a young singer Nilofer who dreams of joining films as well, while Sidhant Gupta plays an aspiring filmmaker Jay Khanna who wants to work with the great ‘Madan Kumar’. Ram Kapoor is also part of the cast as Madan and Jay’s champion.

The impressive period drama is grand in scale, which can be seen in its production design and costumes. There seem to be some original songs created for the series as well, composer Amit Trivedi can be seen with Aparshakti in one of the scenes. While the fictional world of the fledgling film industry is depicted in great detail, the performances of Aparshakti, Wamiqa and Sidhant seem noteworthy at first glance. Jubilee’s story also has its fair share of scandal as Aditi’s character wants to expose her husband and Binod who have covered up the real Madan’s murder.

The 10-episode series has been directed by Vikramaditya. He has also created the show along with co-creator Soumik Sen. Atul Sabharwal has written the screenplay and dialogues. In a statement, Vikramaditya had shared, “While the series is set in that celebrated era of cinema, at its core, Jubilee is a very human story, with narrative themes that will resonate with everyone – which is what drew me to the story in the first place.”

The show is broken up in two halves, the first part from episodes one to five premieres on April 7, while the second half from episodes six to 10 will premiere on April 14 on Prime Video. Jubilee is produced by Andolan Films, in association with Reliance Entertainment and Phantom Studios.