‘Phule' Shows the Marriage of Jotiba and Savitribai as Partners in Life and Fighters for Social Change

The Wire

12-05-2025

A screengrab from Phule.
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Bollywood is renowned for its captivating portrayals of love stories, often celebrating populist tales of passionate and star-crossed lovers. The Hindi film industry has also taken creative liberties in retelling the lives of historical figures, depicting iconic rulers as emotionally complex individuals entangled in struggles, heartbreak, and sacrifice. Films like Mughal-e-Azam, Jodhaa Akbar, Bajirao Mastani, and Padmaavat transform historical narratives into epic sagas of love, transcending mere chronicles of warfare or political ambition.
In contrast, Bollywood's portrayals of modern national leaders, such as Mahatma Gandhi, B.R. Ambedkar, and Bhagat Singh, have often reduced their personal lives to conventional and sanitised romantic subplots. Their female counterparts are frequently relegated to passive, supportive roles, offering little insight into the emotional or intimate dimensions of these men's lives. Rarely are these figures shown as passionate lovers or emotionally vulnerable individuals who sought deep personal bonds alongside their public commitments.
Ananth Mahadevan's newly released Hindi biopic Phule breaks away from this well-worn pattern with striking courage. This is not a conventional retelling of a nationalist leader's achievements or ideas. Instead, Phule emerges as a rare and important film within mainstream cinema, exploring the lives of a towering couple of Dalit-Bahujan history while sincerely grappling with the intertwined themes of caste discrimination, patriarchy, and peasant exploitation.
The film reimagines love and marriage in profoundly radical terms. It presents Jotiba (Pratik Gandhi) and Savitribai Phule (Patralekha) not just as partners in life, but as comrades in a revolutionary struggle that defied both gender norms and entrenched social hierarchies. Their marriage transcends private romance, becoming a powerful force for sweeping social change in 19th century India. Together, they catalysed a historic movement against the domination of priestly castes for the liberation of the vulnerable social groups .
Phule narrates their lives largely in chronological fashion but with a critical shift: it portrays their relationship as one of genuine equality, a sharp departure from the patriarchal values that defined their era. We see here marriage not as a private, sentimental bond designed to serve the man's heroic destiny. Instead, it is depicted as a revolutionary conjugal partnership that redefines traditional ideas of love, family, and social responsibility.
Unlike typical Bollywood biopics, where marriage often sidelines the woman into a decorative or supportive role, Phule offers a love story built on mutual respect, shared purpose, and unwavering commitment to women's empowerment and social justice. In an era flooded with hyper-nationalist biopics, Phule stands apart, offering a distinct and powerful cinematic narrative that challenges the conventional grammar of romance in Hindi cinema.
A revolutionary couple
Modernity envisages marital relationships grounded in mutual respect, personal autonomy, and gender equality. Phule exemplifies this ideal, showing that love must move beyond possessive affection to become a shared mission for societal good. We see how Jotiba and Savitribai envisage an ideal form of love-comradeship based on gender equality. Their partnership disturbs entrenched patriarchal norms, allowing the female partner to take up a bold role in revolutionary actions that challenges the dominant social orthodoxy.
In doing so, Phule majestically redefines marriage itself. Marital union it not as a refuge of domesticity for the woman, but it can emerge as a space of comradeship and collective struggle. Their love story becomes a blueprint for revolutionary activism, inspiring generations to reimagine personal relationships as vehicles for societal transformation.
Savitribai's feminist agency
One of the most striking aspects of Phule is the way it foregrounds Savitribai's agency. Jotiba is depicted not simply as a reformer but as a radical who challenged even his own privileges to nurture Savitribai's leadership. He educated Savitri, introduced her as India's first female teacher, and helped shape her into a powerful leader of the Satyashodhak Samaj. Their relationship exemplifies a partnership in which both individuals empower each other to challenge structural injustices.
As the narrative progresses, Savitribai emerges as a forceful protagonist in her own right. She transgresses the limited boundaries set for married women within the Hindu social framework. She emerges as a bold voice for the education of girls, directly confronting Brahmanical patriarchy ensuing impressive social reforms. She evolves from a docile partner of Jotiba into a revolutionary leader, fiercely committed to the upliftment of society's most marginalised groups. Her role resonates with contemporary feminist ideals foregrounding the values of equality, autonomy and radical resistance against systemic oppression.
Cinema for our times
Mahadevan's direction vividly captures the texture of 19th-century Maharashtra, with evocative visuals and sincere performances. Pratik Gandhi and Patralekha bring sensitivity and depth to their roles, portraying the Phules' partnership with a rare combination of tenderness and political urgency. While the film occasionally falters in pacing, it succeeds in maintaining an emotional and ideological coherence that keeps the viewer deeply engaged.
Importantly, Phule situates the Dalit-Bahujan struggle not as a narrow contestation against Brahmanical domination, but as a broader humanist project. It shows how Jotiba and Savitribai's efforts aimed not just to dismantle entrenched power structures, but to cultivate values of dignity, education, and gender equality. It shows that the unity between man and woman is necessary for bringing any dynamic change in social structure.
In an era when questions of social justice, caste equity, and gender empowerment have once again come to the forefront, Phule feels both timely and necessary. Jotiba and Savitribai's revolutionary love story reminds us that true love does not retreat into private bliss; it dares to challenge injustice and dreams of a better world. Their story offers a radical vision of love, one rooted in equality, comradeship, and the collective pursuit of freedom.