A populist streak runs through Bollywood, never more so than in the work of Prakash Jha, whose new movie, “Satyagraha,” states plainly what concerns him: “The system is rotten.”

It certainly is in this tale that pits Gandhian righteousness against greed. In a town called Ambikapur, smirking villains with government jobs and pictures of the Mahatma on their walls milk the people dry and put them in harm’s way.

Enter a hero — or two. First there’s Dwarka Anand, a retired teacher played by Amitabh Bachchan, his long body draped in traditional white cotton and a home-spun-style shawl. Fed up, Dwarka does something most un-Gandhian: He slaps a corrupt official and is tossed in jail for his trouble.

A movement springs up around him, led by Manav (Ajay Devgn), a telecommunications mogul who grows into Hero No. 2, as he learns that truth and justice matter more than money. (Satyagraha, a word coined by Gandhi, means something like truth force.)