Nikkhil Advani, the director of Amazon Prime's new drama The Revolutionaries, has called for the UK to pay India trillions of pounds in reparations for "200 years of enslavement" under British colonial rule. The eight-part series dramatises Indian "freedom fighters" and has proved controversial for its graphic depictions of British brutality, including scenes intended to build sympathy for reparations, which have been suggested at up to $56 trillion (£41 trillion). Advani has admitted that the show's central antagonist, based on Colonel Reginald Dyer, was portrayed as worse than in reality to strengthen the case for compensation, a move likely to fuel debate over the drama's historical accuracy.

The series depicts Dyer, infamous as the "Butcher of Amritsar" for ordering troops to kill 379 unarmed civilians in 1919, committing further atrocities not supported by the historical record, such as dragging a prisoner behind his horse and firing a cannon with a captive strapped to it. Advani, 55, an award-winning Bollywood director, said he used Dyer as "a representative of the retribution" of colonial rule despite acknowledging the depiction was "not fair". Historian Jeremy Black criticised the series as offering a "clearly prejudiced" account, arguing that the British Raj in practice relied heavily on Indian cooperation.