LOC: Kargil To Hum Hindustani, Saif Ali Khan Steps Back Into The Uniform With Stirring Patriot Drama

By the time LOC: Kargil was released in 2003, Saif Ali Khan was still being seen largely through the prism of romantic leads and urban charm. His role as Captain Anuj was tellingly unflashy. It did not announce a “patriotic star” but showed him as the actor he is – someone willing to step into large stories without demanding the spotlight. More than two decades later, as Saif Ali Khan returns to the genre with Hum Hindustani, a Netflix film centred on India’s first general election, he once again proves his brand of patriotism is all about telling stories about nation-building.

Saif Ali Khan Returns In Patriotic Avatar With Hum Hindustani

Patriotism in Hindi cinema has, over the years, narrowed into a vocabulary of volume with raised slogans, pumped-up background scores, and muscular masculinity. The nation is often invoked as something to be defended or avenged, or asserted. What gets lost is the idea of the republic as a process. Hum Hindustani, directed by Rahul Dholakia, places itself squarely in that oft-ignored space. Set against the logistical challenge of conducting India’s first democratic election. There are no wars to be won or villains to be slashed.

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That Saif Ali Khan is fronting this story is crucial. He is not an obvious choice for chest-thumping nationalism, and that is the point. Over the last decade and a half, Khan has carved out a body of work – Omkara, Aarakshan, Tanhaji, Sacred Games, Laal Kaptaan. Even when playing warriors or kings, he has resisted the flattening impulse of heroism. His characters are nuanced, and his patriotism has the willingness to sit with complexity, and that becomes a political statement in itself.

Hum Hindustani traces the story of administrators and field officers tasked with taking democracy to a country that had never voted before, across languages, castes, terrains and deep mistrust. Khan’s presence here reads as a statement that patriotism does not have to shout to be sincere. It can ask questions, show process and foreground collective effort over individual heroics.

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This marks an interesting return after LOC: Kargil, a film that was itself sprawling, crowded, and resolutely ensemble-driven. Khan’s Captain Nayyar was remembered not for fiery speeches but for a sense of lived-in realism. That performance now feels like an early marker of an actor who would later gravitate towards stories where the nation is sacrosanct and the democracy of the country is paramount.

Saif Ali Khan Brings Depth With Patriotism

What strengthens Khan’s credibility in this space is the thoughtfulness with which he speaks about the country and his idea of patriotism.

The second Netflix project announced alongside Hum Hindustani, the thriller Kartavya, casts Khan as a police officer torn between duty and truth. The thematic overlap is hard to miss. Whether set in the early years of a new republic or in a contemporary moral crisis, the question remains the same: what does it mean to serve the nation without erasing one’s conscience? This is a far cry from the binaries that dominate mainstream discourse. It suggests an actor that wants to delve into what it means to be an Indian.

There is also something radical about placing a star of Khan’s stature in a story about elections rather than wars. The ballot box also has the visceral drama of borders and battlefields. It is also arguably the most patriotic invention of modern India. To dramatise its birth is to remind audiences that the nation was not forged only through sacrifice, but through debates, discourse and the sacred act of voting that keeps the democracy running and retains India as a people’s country. A superstar like him lending his face to this reminder matters.

Saif Ali Khan Redefines Patriot Roles

In an industry increasingly polarised between spectacle and sermon, Saif Ali Khan occupies a middle ground. He is not positioning himself as a national mascot. Instead, he is engaging with the idea of India as something worth examining.

After LOC, Saif Ali Khan could have chased the easier route – military roles that let go off nuance for applause. He did not. His return now, through a film that frames democracy itself as the protagonist, suggests a more mature conversation with the idea of the nation. In doing so, he emerges not as a loud flag-bearer, but as something rarer in contemporary cinema – here is a thoughtful actor, willing to trust that patriotism, like democracy, is strongest when it allows room to think.

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Also Read: Republic Day Special: Rani Mukerji, Alia Bhatt To Aamir Khan, Sharman Joshi, Bollywood Actors Who Redefined Patriotism On The Big Screen

Varsha Tiwari

Varsha Tiwari is a budding content writer passionate about Bollywood, pop culture, and the stories behind the spotlight. She enjoys breaking down trends, celebrity moments, and film narratives into engaging, reader-friendly content. Always curious and observant, she is currently pursuing a Master’s in Communication and Journalism. Outside of writing, she enjoys painting because storytelling doesn’t always need words to make an impact.