Jubilee (TV series)

Exactly a month before the Independence of India and Partition, bonafide producer, Shrikant Roy, who owns the studio, Roy Talkies, in Bombay, is currently on the search for a newbie to debut and act in his latest film, Sunghursh, as the protagonist. He hopes to give the pseudonym, 'Madan Kumar', for the person selected. A theatre actor, Jamshed Khan, is selected. However, Jamshed is currently in a extra-marital affair with Sumitra Kumari, the high-profile actress of Bollywood and Roy's wife. They both plan to run away to Karachi. Binod Das, the projector boy of Roy Talkies and Roy's right-hand man, is sent to Lucknow to bring both Jamshed and Sumitra back to the studio.

On the train ride to Lucknow, Binod meets playwright Jay Khanna, Jamshed's best friend and whose family own a theater company in Karachi. He tries to convince Kumari to go back to Bombay with him, but she remains steadfast in her decision and does not budge. Binod meets Jamshed, who is about to act in a theater production of Hamlet, using a different alias. He indirectly threatens Jamshed of the repercussions of not acting in Roy's new film. However, Jamshed secretly sneaks out of the theater to leave to Karachi, by train. As the riots break out as a result of announcing the Partition, Jamshed is unable to find a ride to the train station. Binod offers him a ride, howvever, not before Jamshed mistakenly comes upon Binod's true identity.

Planning to act in Sungursh himself, Binod beats Jamshed unconscious. However, a group of rioters come upon them, and Binod manages to escape, before he is found by Jay. The rioters kill Jamshed, mistaking him for being a Hindu, which is witnessed by both Binod and Jay. Upon going back to Bombay, Binod tells everyone that Jamshed went to Karachi. When questioned by Roy, he succeeds in distracting him by auditioning in front of him. Highly impressed, Binod is selected and given the pseudonym of ‘Madan Kumar’. But Sumitra Kumari is suspicious of him. Roy managed to have photographs of Binod beating Jamshed unconscious in Lucknow, before his death, clicked, which he keeps. Meanwhile, Jay, whose family has lost their theater company and house in Karachi, come to Bombay as refugees. He aspires to make it big as a director with his story, Taxi Driver, for which he wanted to cast Jamshed in. He falls in love with the courtesan, Niloufer.

Jay's script gets rejected by Roy, solely for the hero being poor. He then tries to narrate it to Roy's financer, Shamsher Walia, but gets rejected again, as Walia does not want to produce films. After Roy and him get into a feud, Jay confronts Walia for his inability to take risks. Walia agrees and produces Jay's film, helping him create his own studio. Jay and Walia are eventually pitted against Roy and Madan Kumar. Madan tries to get Niloufer on his side by casting her in his next film, Raj Mahal. She is more than happy as she admires Madan. They begin an affair, however, not before Jay learing about it. He later has a public spat with Madan, which makes it into the news.

Jay in-turn takes Sumitra Kumari as the heroine for his next film, Baiju Awara. The film is a runaway hit, for it's instant connection with the middle class, while Raj Mahal flops badly, as Roy changed the story last minute, to suit Madan and Niloufer's real-life scandal. Jay becomes a huge star. Pratap Singh, a teacher who had helped Jay after the partition and now works in his studio wants to get him married to his daughter Kiran. But Jay still loves Niloufer and comforts her after her split from Madan. He's also mesmerized by the new technology of cinemascope that is about to get introduced by Roy. Roy invites him to work with him but Walia is against it as the film would involve American technology but Jay is in an agreement with the Soviet government.

Roy kills himself, but before doing so prepares an envelope for Sumitra. Sumitra finds evidence photographs in it which prove that Madan killed Jamshed. Madan is charged with murder which tarnishes his image. Jay is called to court as a witness, but he lies as a pay off for Madan saving him during the riots and their earlier friendship. Sumitra is distraught and commits suicide as well. A phone call of Jay and Niloufer gets recorded by the Soviets where Jay had told her that Madan had in fact killed Jamshed. Pratap Singh blackmails Jay and to save his studio and career he marries Kiran. Binod retires from acting and leaves with his wife. Roy Talkies gets sold off.[3]

• Prosenjit Chatterjee as Srikant Roy
• Aparshakti Khurana as Binod Das / Madan Kumar
• Aditi Rao Hydari as Sumitra Kumari, Roy's wife
• Sidhant Gupta as Jay Khanna
• Nandish Sandhu as Jamshed Khan
• Wamiqa Gabbi as Niloufer "Nilo" Qureshi
• Ram Kapoor as Shamsher Singh Walia
• Shweta Basu Prasad as Ratna Das, Binod's wife
• Sukhmanee Lamba as Kiran Singh Sethi
• Arun Govil as Narain Khanna, Jay's father
• Aarya Bhatta as Nanik Jotwani
• Ajay Dutta as Hemant Ganguly
• Tushar Phulke as Janak Mehta
• Narottam Bain as Maqsood
• Alok Arora as Raghu Jhalani
• Harish Chhabra as R. N. Mullick
• Madhu Sachdeva as Bhagwanti Khanna, Jay's mother
• Chirag Katrecha as Naren Das, Binod's brother
• Pankaj Jha Kashyap as Lucknow Inspector
• Edward Sonnenblick as Vladimir Sayadyants
• Akshay Batchu as Shyam Khanna, Jay's younger brother
  • Aryavart Mishra as Young Shyam
• Suhani Popli as Meena Devi, Niloufer's friend
• Ashok Banthia as Pratap Singh Sethi, Kiran's father
• Amit Trivedi as a singer in the song "Dil Jahan Pe Le Chala" (cameo)

The songs for the web series were composed by Amit Trivedi, while the background score was composed by Alokananda Dasgupta. Kausar Munir had written all the lyrics.

On 17 March 2023, Amazon Prime Video announced the release date with a first look and teaser, and it was released on 7 April 2023.[5][6]

Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express writes "Jubilee deftly takes us back to that black-and-white era when studios were the real power-centre, owning their stars lock, stock and barrel".[7]

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV praised the series giving 4.5 stars out of 5, and writes in his review that, Between the weeks before August 15, 1947, and the middle of 1953, jubilee depicts six tumultuous years. The sector is starting to adjust to its new role of assisting in the creation of a free India's national identity after enduring decades of colonial domination.[8]

• List of Amazon India originals
• List of Amazon Prime Video original programming

• Jubilee at IMDb