“After all this time?”
“Always.”
The year 2001 changed the world as we knew it. 9/11 ceased to be a mere date. Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger gave birth to Wikipedia. Steve Jobs put music in our pockets with the iconic iPod.
But all that was in the Muggle world.
In the wizarding world, ‘The Boy who Lived’ had just begun a magical journey in reel life. A journey which was destined to transcend time. It all began in 1997, when the first Harry Potter book was published. J.K. Rowling had the readers, especially the children, eating out of her palms from then on. The frenzy associated with the seven-book series was unimaginable and unbelievable.
The excitement and fandom hit the roof with its adaptation on the silver screen. The lead actors – Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, Emma Watson as Hermione Granger and Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley – and the franchise attained cult status. The last film of the series released a decade ago, but the boy lived on in every fan’s heart. The spin-offs of the franchise did its bit in keeping the embers glowing, but the Potterheads longed to see their Harry, Ron and Hermione back on the screen.
So, when HBO Max decided to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first film – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – by organising an on-screen reunion of sorts, it was a dream come true for all. 'Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts' premiered on Amazon Prime in India today, making it the best New Year gift a Potterhead could ask for.
The retrospective special takes the viewer down memory lane, with exclusive cast interviews, their interactions, behind-the-scenes footage, and more. Expectedly, the 102-minute show is high on nostalgia. It’s a delight (with a tinge of sadness) to watch the three all grown up but together again. Radcliffe looks dashing, with auburn hair, blue eyes and a full beard and moustache to boot. He is the most expressive of the three during the interactions, with Grint looking strangely subdued in the initial exchanges (or was it Ron being Ron in an extended cameo!). Watson, much like in the films, is the thread that connects the two in the show.
Apart from the three, their co-stars like Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange), Matthew Lewis (Neville Longbottom), Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort) and others share their wonderful experiences and anecdotes about the shoot and the franchise as a whole.
The directors – Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuaron, Mike Newell and David Yates – too join in. It’s an absolute delight to hear them talk about how they conceptualised and shot the hugely anticipated films on a scale that one can only dream of, or read about in the Harry Potter books! From finalising the main cast to managing the kids on the set, to watching them and the franchise grow over the years to ringing in the changes to the mood and character of the films towards the end, the directors bare it all.
The setting of the show, be it Albus Dumbledore's office or the Diagon Alley or Gringotts Bank, reminds us of the phenomenal Stuart Craig whose attention to details in the making the sets transformed the Muggle world into a magical one. It’s amusing really at times to watch ‘Draco Malfoy’ hanging out with ‘Neville Longbottom’ or hugging ‘Hermione Granger’ on these sets! (There was a bit of love in the air on the sets, it seems. Ahem. No spoilers.) But then, you also realise that these actors were and are as much individuals like the rest of us. But Harry Potter franchise, they all admit, will be part of them forever. Amen to that.
It’s lovely to know how these actors, most of who came of age with the franchise much like us viewers, identified with the characters and how it shaped their personalities for good in their real life. Lewis, for instance, was a shy boy much like Neville but grew in confidence later. There was a downside, too. After a certain point of time, as Grint, Radcliffe and Watson admitted, it was difficult to separate their reel and real lives and identities. Watson even considered pulling out of the franchise. Thankfully, better sense prevailed.
Another highlight was the revelation about how the youngsters gelled with the veteran actors – the “cream of British acting industry”, as Grint put it. Felton had thought Richard Harris (who played Albus Dumbledore initially) was a tour guide on the sets! Stories of adulation and respect on the sets are many, and are worth listening to.
But what stuck out like a sore thumb on the show was how Rowling hardly found any screentime. The Potterheads would have wanted to hear more from the architect of this "intricately, perfectly designed universe" (as Grint rightfully puts it), that is Harry Potter.
It’s hard to control the emotions when the conversation veered to those who were part of the franchise but are no longer with us. Harris, Alan Rickman (the one and only Severus Snape), Richard Griffiths (Vernon Dursley), John Hurt (Ollivander), Helen McCrory (Narcissa Malfoy)… the list is long and painful.
There are more tears as Grint, Watson and Radcliffe talk about how they feel proud to have been part of something that touched so many lives. And how the Harry Potter films have bonded them for life and made them family. The behind-the-scenes footage of the three as kids, and that of them, years later, breaking down after shooting one of the final scenes are overwhelming to say the least.
The Harry Potter books and the films defined a whole generation. There was never one like it, and there will never be one like it. The enormity of what it achieved is impossible to be put in words or explained in a show like this one. Like Coltrane, or shall we say Hagrid, said in the show, 50 years from now, we will have passed on Harry Potter to our children, and they would have passed it on to theirs, but he won’t be around then, sadly. Which holds true for most of us.
But there will always be a Harry Potter memory happy enough, strong enough to conjure a Patronus to drive away the darkness and coldness from our lives. Always.
