Reel Patriotism

Shaheed (1965)

One of the first films ever to be made on the life of legendary revolutionary hero Bhagat Singh. The movie features some memorable songs like Aye Watan and Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna and had Manoj Kumar in the title role. A string of movies on Bhagat Singh,featuring actors like Ajay Devgan,Sunny Deol,Bobby Deol and other actors,were made in the early 2000s. Although popular,they didn’t come close to replicating the success of the original Shaheed.

Gandhi (1982)

Ben Kingsley played Mahatma Gandhi in this 1982 epic docudrama on the life and times of Mahatma Gandhi. The movie remained largely faithful to the portrayal of Mahatma Gandhi’s life and drew inspiration from real life characters,with whom he was associated rather than have fictitious characters on whose viewpoint the story was based. It won a total of eight Academy Awards,including one for best picture and best actor for Richard Attenborough and Ben Kingsley respectively.

Border (1997)

One of the most memorable war films made after Haqeeqat,Border tells the story of the 1971 Indo-Pak War,and the real life events at the Battle of Longewala,where 120 soldiers of the Punjab Regiment and a detachment of the BSF (Border Security Force) under major Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri led an all night offensive against a superior Pakistani force. The movie saw Sunny Deol,Jackie Shroff,Suniel Shetty and Akshaye Khanna in memorable roles.

Rang De Basanti (2006)

The plot of the movie revolves around the coming of age of five youngsters,when their friend,a fighter pilot with the Indian Air Force is killed in a Mig-21 crash,and the government denies any responsibility for having used faulty spares which led to the crash. The movie was India’s official entry for the Oscars that year and won a plethora of awards. Actors Aamir Khan,Soha Ali Khan,R Madhavan,Waheeda Rehman and Sharman Joshi gave impressive performances in the film.