GANDHI’S THREADS is a feature documentary that weaves together two storylines—one contemporary, one historical—to explore how fashion can be used as a tool for social change.

In present-day Mumbai, the film follows Dalit artist Sudheer Rajbhar working to transform the fashion industry from the ground up. In 2018, Sudheer launched the luxury brand Chamar Studio—reclaiming ’chamar’, a caste slur for leatherworkers, as a symbol of beauty, skill, and pride. Sudheer and his team of cobblers and leatherworkers, still considered ‘untouchable’ in the Indian caste system, create high end bags and shoes out of a signature material Sudheer creates from rubber waste. Their work challenges both caste divisions and the global fashion industry, whose practices are built on environmental harm and invisible labour. Sudheer’s dream is to build a fashion school where ‘untouchable’ artisans can develop their craft and experiment with innovative materials—a risky vision in today’s India.

Woven through Sudheer’s journey is that of his unlikely muse: M.K. (Mahatma) Gandhi—not the freedom fighter or spiritual leader, but Gandhi the weaver and cobbler who spun his own cloth and made his own sandals, who championed Indian craftsmanship and the dignity of the lowest castes. Through rare archival footage, animation, and the voices of Gandhi’s descendants and leading scholars, the film traces Gandhi’s transformation from British loyalist in a three-piece suit to advocate for the poor, dressed in a single piece of handspun cotton. It tells the story of a creative genius who used what he wore to challenge empire, caste, and excessive consumption.

By connecting past to present, GANDHI’S THREADS draws on history as a vital resource for confronting today’s urgent human and ecological crises — and invites us to see Gandhi as we've never seen him before: as a fashion icon for the 21st century.