Bollywood is not just India’s entertainment machine but also its myth-making factory. From lavish period dramas to high-octane political biopics and jingoistic war films, the industry repeatedly takes liberties with truth under the guise of creative freedom. But when entertainment begins to replace education, and fantasy overrides fact, we are no longer watching movies. We are witnessing a distorted history on the silver screen.
In an age where mass media shapes public memory more than textbooks, Bollywood’s tendency to distort, oversimplify, or politicise historical and real-world events has troubling implications.
Padmaavat (2018): Pushing the Narratives of Islamophobia
- Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
A fictional queen becomes a national icon, while a Muslim ruler is reduced to a savage beast. Fictional tales, like this one, masquerading as patriotic history poison discourse.
Claimed as an adaptation of the 16th-century epic poem Padmavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi, it was marketed with the illusion of historical authenticity. The film turned a fictional queen (who most historians agree never existed) into a revered symbol of honour and sacrifice. More troublingly, it portrayed the Muslim ruler Alauddin Khilji as a barbaric, almost animalistic villain(a trend of weaponising Islamophobia). The nuance of the Delhi Sultanate politics was sacrificed in favour of an Islamophobic caricature. History has turned into a battlefield of identity politics. The movie also seems to practice regressive practices like jauhar (self-immolation) which sends a rather dangerous message to modern audiences.
The main problem? The movie fueled right-wing nationalist sentiment. It is the 21st century and the world doesn’t require more Islamophobic narratives to fuel the already on-going real world violence that Muslims face on a daily basis.
Manikarnika, The Queen of Jhansi (2019): Oversimplified Nationalism
- Directors: Krish Jagarlamudi, Kangana Ranaut
A legendary woman is reduced to a nationalist caricature. Tribute? Zero.
Though intended as a tribute to Rani Lakshmibai, Manikarnika is less a historical film and more a personal project wrapped in hyper-patriotic sentiment. Facts were bent and characters were invented to feed certain narratives (nothing new).
The complex internal politics of the time were brushed aside and instead Rani Lakshmibai was reimagined as a one-woman army, reminiscent more of Marvel heroines than real revolutionaries. Basically, a historical figure got used to support modern nationalist narratives rather than being portrayed with historical context.
Tanhaji — The Unsung Warrior (2020): Historical War Drama or Hindutva Spectacle?
- Director: Om Raut
A film that could have honoured Maratha valor with factual rigour instead turned into a hyper-nationalistic spectacle. It recast the historical battle between Tanhaji Malusare and Udaybhan Rathod with a clear communal slant. Udaybhan, historically a Rajput, was portrayed as a monstrous sadist and the symbolic “other.” The film played out like a mythological epic, with good and evil clearly marked along religious lines. The Maratha-Mughal political complexity was reduced to a Hindu-Muslim binary — a deliberate narrative choice that aligned conveniently with contemporary political narratives.
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The film depicts the Mughal Empire as oppressive foreign invaders, while the Marathas are shown as righteous liberators.
Panipat (2019): The Villain Must Be Muslim, No Matter What
- Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Panipat attempted to depict the Third Battle of Panipat, a pivotal conflict in Indian history. But instead of focusing on the multi-dimensional power dynamics of the era, it chose to vilify Ahmad Shah Abdali as a bloodthirsty foreigner with no redeeming qualities. It ignored the strategic and diplomatic failures of Indian rulers and instead chose the easy route of demonising the invader. The film drew widespread criticism in Afghanistan for its depiction of Abdali, and rightly so — history was painted not with facts, but with jingoistic fervor.
Bollywood’s Problem With History
At its core, Bollywood’s treatment of history reveals a discomfort with nuance. It prefers grand narratives over complicated truths, heroes over human beings and villains over ideological adversaries. The need to appease political sentiments and market demands often overrides any genuine commitment to historical integrity.
Films are powerful tools of collective memory. When they distort history, they don’t just misinform; they reshape public consciousness. Bollywood’s repeated indulgence in historical revisionism risks creating generations that remember fiction as fact.
Until filmmakers begin to see history not as a tool for political signalling but as a subject of respect, honesty, and exploration, Bollywood will remain a factory of half-truths and nationalist fantasies.
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