The arrival of The Revolutionaries on Amazon Prime Video may be seen as a change in the cultural climate around Indian history. The eight-part Hindi series, directed by Nikkhil Advani and adapted from Sanjeev Sanyal’s book Revolutionaries: The Other Story of How India Won Its Freedom, turns its attention to armed revolutionaries such as Rash Behari Bose, Sachindranath Sanyal and Bagha Jatin.

The series is set primarily in the years preceding the Ghadar uprising of 1915 and dramatises the underground networks that sought to overthrow British rule.

A wider freedom narrative

For decades, the dominant popular account of India’s freedom struggle was organised around a familiar sequence. The Indian National Congress, Mahatma Gandhi’s mass movements, constitutional negotiations and the eventual transfer of power. That account contains indispensable facts. But it was never the whole story.

The armed revolutionary tradition involved underground networks, assassinations, attempted mutinies, expatriate organisations and international alliances. It included figures such as Rash Behari Bose, Bagha Jatin, Sachindranath Sanyal, Kartar Singh Sarabha, Vanchinathan and Lala Har Dayal. Their activities extended across Bengal, Punjab, Madras Presidency, the United Provinces, Southeast Asia, North America and Europe……….”