Rewriting Gandhi: revisionist nationalism and the construction of the ‘other’ in contemporary Hindi biopics

Post-liberalisation Hindi biopics use Gandhi’s image as an ideological ‘Other’ to define other national leaders’ identities. Examining Sardar (1993), Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar (2000), The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002), Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2004), and Swatantrya Veer Savarkar (2024), the study employs discourse analysis and close textual reading. Drawing on Stuart Hall's theory of representation, it argues that these films systematically situate Gandhi as a foil. They construct alternative nationalist subjectivities. Conceptualised as cinematic othering and mnemonic restructuring, this constitutes a cinema of revisionist nationalism that reorders the broader contestation of Gandhi’s political legacy in contemporary India.