Cool Pride

It8217;s a defining moment. Lt Karan Shergill Hrithik Roshan is doing a recce near the LoC when his colleague reminds him what the line r...

It8217;s a defining moment. Lt Karan Shergill Hrithik Roshan is doing a recce near the LoC when his colleague reminds him what the line really means.8216;8216;This part of the land is our area and that part is theirs,8217;8217; he says. Shergill, standing tall in his uniform, seems to look within and say to himself, 8216;8216;I always knew it but never realised it8230; I am an Indian.8217;8217;

Cut to Shah Rukh Khan who works at NASA but comes back to his Swades Homeland because he feels strongly about the issues concerning India. He doesn8217;t sing Hum Honge Kamyab and doesn8217;t give up the tee and jeans for a dhoti. After all, his dil is ekdum hindustani.

Move over Manoj 8216;Bharat8217; Kumar and Sunny Gadar Deol. Bollywood8217;s yuppie patriot has all the pride and honour for the janmabhoomi but doesn8217;t exactly need to wear his desh prem on his sleeve.

8216;8216;We8217;ve got independence and don8217;t need to beat the old mantra of Mera Bharat Mahaan. We are in a forward-looking mode and it8217;s time we proved our love for our country with some problem solving rather than by raising slogans,8217;8217; says Khan, who represents the concerns of the educated middle class in Ashutosh Gowarikar8217;s Swades. 8216;8216;Somewhere in India, the educated class should define patriotism as looking in the right direction of development,8217;8217; adds Khan.

A definition that is not necessarily jingoistic. 8216;8216;It was important to show the protagonist as secularly patriotic rather than a fundamental lunatic,8217;8217; says Farhan Akhtar of Shergill in Lakshya. 8216;8216;Hrithik8217;s character is from a well-educated, well-informed background. I think being well-informed brings with it a certain sobriety and the capacity to understand the two sides to any story and the reasons leading up to that situation. When you see Karan Shergill, you know that his love for his country runs true in his veins, even without him having to say it again and again.8217;8217;

Akshay Kumar makes sure his character in Anil Sharma8217;s forthcoming Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyon doesn8217;t mouth any anti-Pakistan dialogues. 8216;8216;I am not comfortable bad-mouthing any country or a religion. Today, the audience is smart enough to know when patriotism is being conveyed. They don8217;t need slogan baazi,8217;8217; says Kumar, who plays a soldier in the film set against the Indo-Pak imbroglio.

In the filmi army these days, it8217;s not always about celebrating wars and songs about letters from home. The soldiers in Mani Ratnam8217;s Tango Charlie do die for their country but they aren8217;t always sombre and verbose. A new recruit8212;played by Bobby Deol8212;can8217;t hide his distaste when his colleagues only seem to discuss sex and other people8217;s wives. 8216;8216;Don8217;t you have anything else to talk about?8217;8217; he asks his officer, played by Ajay Devgan. To which Devgan retorts, 8216;8216;Is there any other topic that you can think of? For days nothing happens at the border and then one of us dies, all of a sudden. Who wants reality? We are fine with sex.8217;8217; Yes, patriots do talk like this.