Mumbai, Feb. 9 -- By the time LOC: Kargil 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, once again proving his brand of patriotism is all about telling stories about nation building.

Patriotism in Hindi cinema has, over the years, narrowed into a vocabulary of volume with raised slogans, pumped-up background scores, muscular mascul...