Episode 0: Prologue
Hosts Raghu Karnad and Supriya Nair give us a sneak peek into season 3. They introduce the people who inspired this season and discuss the idea of constitutional culture and how it is shaped.
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Season 3
Season 3 moves away from courtroom drama and straightforward legal history into different terrain. It focuses on seven figures who have influenced and shaped India’s constitutional culture in myriad ways: through art, activism and political thought.
Over six fascinating episodes, the season tells the stories of Nandalal Bose, Raj Kapoor, KA Abbas, KG Kannabiran, Hansa Mehta, Justice Fazl Ali and MN Roy. Episodes feature interviews with political thinkers, historians, legal experts and others, in addition to drawing from archival materials, books and films. It is narrated by journalist and writer Raghu Karnad and journalist and editor Supriya Nair.
The season launched on March 26, 2025.
Episode 1: Nandalal Bose
The Indian constitution is one of the few, if only, illustrated constitutions in the world. Twenty two panels open each of the chapters, featuring characters and scenes from Indian history and myth. Who was the person who spearheaded the project of bringing our constitution to life visually? Nandalal Bose, a pioneer of modernism in Indian art, and the favoured artist of both Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi. In this episode we explore how the Constitution came to be illustrated, why certain images were chosen and the life and work of the man in charge of it.
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Episode 2: KA Abbas & Raj Kapoor
How did filmmakers participate in the nation building project in the early years of independence? What role did films play in popularising our constitutional ideals? Tune in as host Supriya Nair takes you through the life and work of writer KA Abbas and actor-director Raj Kapoor. This episode explores the socio-political commentary in their films and how they touched upon some of the most urgent questions of the time while entertaining audiences.
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Episode 3: MN Roy
Few political thinkers have had as varied and storied a career as the star of this episode: MN Roy. Did he contribute to the fundamental rights we enjoy today? How did he envision the constitution for a free India? And why did he switch from violent nationalism to communism to mainstream Congress politics? Wanted by the police, chased across continents, a charismatic speaker and thinker, Roy might be largely forgotten today, but here we explore his radical ideas and a vision for an India that never came to be.
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Episode 4: Justice Fazl Ali
In 1950, the newly-formed Supreme Court had to decide on its first case concerning civil liberties. Should the government be allowed to preventively detain citizens, mostly political dissidents? In AK Gopalan vs State of Madras four out of five judges sided with the government. Only one judge differed. His name was Justice Saiyid Fazl Ali and he wrote the court’s first, and one of its most important dissents. What is the historic and legal value of a dissenting judgement, and how did this one come about? In this episode we delve into the life and work of Justice Fazl Ali and the afterlife of his AK Gopalan judgment.
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Episode 5: KG Kannabiran
How do you deploy the principles of justice and fairness day in and day out? What does it mean to work the Constitution “insurgently”? Through his life and work the lawyer and civil rights activist KG Kannabiran showed us exactly how. Sometimes known as the “Naxalite lawyer”, with a reputation for representing poor and downtrodden prisoners, Kannabiran was tireless in his efforts towards preserving human rights and fighting state impunity. In this episode we explore how this lawyer from Andhra Pradesh was at the forefront of India’s civil liberties movement.
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Episode 6: Hansa Mehta
There were just a handful of women involved in writing a Constitution for a new India, and one of them was Hansa Mehta. Mehta was extraordinary in many ways; she was born into a progressive family that educated her, she faced social opprobrium by choosing to marry outside her caste, and she was among the few active Congress leaders. Mehta emerged as one of the key figures in the nascent women’s movement in India, and forged a career as a dynamic politician and later representative from India to the United Nations.
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