What’s behind the Indira Gandhi screen revival?

When Indira Gandhi governed India between the 1960s and the 1980s, she was rarely depicted directly in films. If the prime minster was seen, it was mostly as a photograph or portrait in a government office. Now, Indira Gandhi is everywhere.

A revival of interest in period dramas has led to an Indira revival of sorts too. She is in films about military victories over Pakistan, biopics of regional leaders – even movies about cricket and an income tax raid. And of course, she is present in films about her father Jawaharlal Nehru’s reign as prime minister.

More recently, her lowest point as elected head of state – her suspension of the Constitution and civil liberties between 1975 and 1977 – has been committed to film. That is the focus of the January 17 release Emergency.

Kangana Ranaut directs the biopic and plays India’s first woman prime minister as a bundle of nerves who displays borderline psychosis during the Emergency period. Ranaut is helped along by Oscar winner David Malinowski’s prosthetics and makeup.

But even before Ranaut, Indira Gandhi has been portrayed in her Emergency phase by Supriya Vinod, Navni Parihar and Sarita Choudhury. At other stages of her life, she has been played by Avantika Akerkar and…

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