INDEPENDENCE SPECIAL

fg d s k l Doesn’t it just give you goose-bumps to relive mo ments of patriotism and courage our brave soldiers or even exemplary citizens have shown to protect India on the silver screen? This Independence, we pick some fascinating movies on patriotism, rare courage and sacrifice our soldiers and extra-ordinary people have shown to safe-guard or protect the honour of India. Read on…

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Border: It’s been 23 years yet this fabulous film from JP Dutta has not been forgotten. Released in 1997, this film was set on the battle of Longewala during the Indo-Pakistan war in 1971. It was an adaption of real life incidents and starred Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty, Akshay Khanna, Rakhee, Jackie Shroff and so many others. Who can forget the soulful song ‘sandesa aaya hain’ from this film that sends goose-bumps to our spine even today? Sunny Deol who portrayed a pivotal character in Border avers, “Living a life dedicated to our country is always special. However, Border will always be different as it is a film depicting the realities of the war in its truest essence. While I did not have to do any special preparation to play Major Kuldeep (now retired as Brigadier Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri), what I did was, live in the moment, and be a proud Indian.”

Rang De Basanti: The story is about five young men from Delhi who lived a carefree life until they acted in a documentary film on five revolutionary Indian freedom fighters. Inspired from the freedom fighters, they assassinate the Indian Defence Minister for his act of corruption that was responsible for the death of their friend, an Indian Air Force pilot. Trivia: Supposedly, Shah Rukh Khan was supposed to play Ajay Rathod which was later played by R Madhavan, but things didn’t work out. However, the film went on to become a cult film inspiring millions.

Swades was on the true-life story of a NRI who comes back to India to serve the country. Produced and directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, the film starred the great Shah Rukh Khan and Gayatri Joshi. The song Yeh Jo Desh Hai Mera was so popular that it almost became a national anthem. Shah Rukh Khan was so pleased with the way Swades had turned out that he had commented: “I cant thank Ashutosh enough for Swades.”

Parmanu in short was the fascinating story of Pokhran directed by Abhishek Sharma and jointly written by Saiwyn Quadras, Sanyuktha Chawla Sheikh and Sharma. It was released in 2018 and starred John Abraham who went through severe training and physical transformation to become his character Ashwat Raina, a junior bureaucrat in the PMO. John was so involved in this film that he said after its release, “ Releasing Parmanu is like giving birth.”

Raazi starring Aalia Bhatt and Vickey Kaushik was a spy film directed by Meghna Gulzar. It was released in 2018. Based on Calling Sehmat, a novel by Harinder Sikka, it is the true story of a RAW agent who is married into a family of military officials in Pakistan prior to the 1971 India-Pakistan war. This film also starred Aalia’s mum the talented Sonia Razdhan. In fact, Aalia said, “I was nervous not for myself but for her. I hoped my mother had memorised all the dialogues. I would get nervous if she forgot her dialogues. Obviously, she has worked for far longer than I have and she is a much better actor than I am so she was so chilled out.”

The Legend of Bhagat Singh is a 2002 film directed by Rajkumar Santoshi. The film is about the legendary Bhagat Singh, who fought for Indian independence along with fellow members of the Hindustan Republic Association. It starred Ajay Devgn along with Sushant Singh, D. Santosh and Akhilendra Mishra as the other lead characters. Raj Babbar, Farida Jalal and Amrita Rao play supporting roles. The film chronicles Bhagat Singh’s life from his childhood where he witnesses the Jallianwala Bagh massacre until the day he was hanged to death -23 March 1931.

Lakshya was released in 2004. It was a war-drama directed by Farhan Akhtar and produced by Ritesh Sidhwani, starring Hrithik Roshan, Amitabh Bachchan and Preity Zinta. Hrithik Roshan played the role of Lieutenant (later acting Captain) Karan Shergill, who develops from an aimless young man into an army officer. It is a coming-of-age story set against a fictionalized backdrop of the 1999 Kargil War. Hrithik Roshan at the celebrations of 15 years of Lakshya said, “It was a beautiful story that touched my life.”

The Ghazi Attack released in 2017. It was a war film written and directed by Sankalp Reddy. The film was based on the mysterious sinking of PNS Ghazi during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. It starred Rana Daggubati, Taapsee Pannu, Kay Kay Menon and Atul Kulkarni. The story was about an executive naval officer of the Indian Submarine and his team, who remained underwater for 18 days. The film explores the mysterious circumstances under which submarine PNS Ghazi sank off the coast of Visakhapatnam in 1971.