Screening the sacred past: mythological nationalism and national identity in Ram Setu and Adipurush

This paper explores the politics of reimagining history through mythological films – Ram Setu and Adipurush – by studying the intersection of mythical stories, history, and dominant ideology. Utilizing Maurice Halbwachs’ theory of collective memory, which states that the constructed past fosters a group’s sense of togetherness, and using a mixed-method approach, this study examined how two contemporary mythological films created an alternative frame of collective historical reference. The paper finds that contemporary mythological films in Bollywood cinema are deeply aligned with the dominant political ideology and propagate a particular version of history.