Manoj Bajpayee Takes On Mahatma Gandhi Role as Sudhir Mishra Begins New Historical Drama
Manoj Bajpayee’s first appearance as Mahatma Gandhi offers an early indication of how Sudhir Mishra is approaching his new historical drama: familiar enough to be immediately recognisable, but attached to a story that appears to be deliberately narrow in scope.
Bajpayee is playing Gandhi for the first time in his career. Images released from the production show the actor with a shaved head, round spectacles and Gandhi’s familiar clothing, while other visuals place him at what appears to be a march.
The photographs have naturally drawn attention to the physical resemblance. The more consequential detail about the project, however, lies in the period Mishra has chosen to examine.
Rather than covering Gandhi’s life from beginning to end, the film is built around a 21-day chapter connected with the period of India’s independence.
A Gandhi Film With a Narrower Lens
The filmmakers have revealed relatively little about what happens during those 21 days, leaving the precise historical events and dramatic structure undisclosed.
That restraint makes the format notable.
Gandhi’s political life stretched across decades and intersected with some of the defining events of the 20th century. A conventional biographical film would have to move rapidly through those years, selecting major milestones while compressing much of the political and personal detail around them.
Mishra’s film is taking a different route. A story confined to three weeks gives the director room to stay with a particular moment rather than turn the film into a survey of Gandhi’s life.
Reports have mentioned “Gandhi and My Mother” as a working title. The filmmakers have not formally announced that as the final title.
Bajpayee Faces a Role Where Resemblance Is Only the Beginning
Portraying Gandhi presents an unusual acting problem.
Unlike many historical figures, his appearance, voice, gestures and public manner are embedded deeply in popular memory. Photographs and archival recordings have been reproduced for generations, while cinema has already produced several interpretations of him.
The first-look images suggest considerable attention to Bajpayee’s physical transformation, but resemblance can carry the performance only so far.
Bajpayee has often been most effective when working with smaller details: the rhythm of a character’s speech, an uncomfortable pause, a change in posture or a restrained reaction. Those qualities have shaped performances across films such as Satya, Aligarh and Bhonsle, as well as his work in The Family Man.
Gandhi will test that approach against a figure audiences believe they already know.
The challenge is not simply to make Bajpayee look recognisable. It is to find a character inside an image that has been reproduced countless times.
Sudhir Mishra and Anubhav Sinha Join Forces
The project also brings Bajpayee into a film shaped by two filmmakers with long records of engaging with politics and society.
Sudhir Mishra is directing. His filmography includes Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi and Dharavi, and political conflict has repeatedly provided the setting or pressure point for his characters.
Anubhav Sinha and Narendra Hirawat are producing the film. It is a Benaras Mediaworks production, with NH Studioz presenting it.
Sinha’s recent work has frequently dealt with questions of institutions, social divisions and power, including Mulk, Article 15 and Thappad.
That combination gives the project a different context from a straightforward historical biopic. Much will depend on which part of Gandhi’s life those 21 days cover and how the filmmakers choose to interpret it.
For now, those details are being withheld.
Saurabh Shukla Joins the Cast as Filming Begins
Saurabh Shukla has also joined the film in what has been described as a key role, although the identity of his character has not been disclosed.
Production has begun in Lucknow.
The filmmakers have yet to announce the complete principal cast, a final title or a release date. That leaves the first images of Bajpayee as the clearest indication so far of the film’s visual direction.
Another Major Character Role for Bajpayee
The Gandhi project arrives during an active period for Bajpayee, who continues to alternate between streaming productions, commercial films and smaller character-led projects.
He is also part of Last Man in Tower, an adaptation of Aravind Adiga’s novel directed by Ben Rekhi.
The film brings Bajpayee together on screen with Boman Irani for the first time and also features Divya Dutta. Rana Daggubati’s Spirit Media is producing the adaptation, which is scheduled for release on September 11, 2026.
The Sudhir Mishra project operates on a different scale of expectation.
Actors portraying Gandhi inherit decades of cinematic comparisons before audiences see a single scene. The newly released images establish that Bajpayee has undergone the necessary physical transformation. Whether his interpretation finds something distinctive in such a familiar historical figure will depend less on the spectacles and shaved head than on what happens once the camera stays on him.
For now, the filmmakers are revealing that performance one photograph at a time.
