I Love My India

Clerk
This maudlin 1989 melodrama had an ageing Manoj Kumar trying to woo an equally mature Hema Malini on a bicycle in a college campus. If this didn8217;t qualify for Ripley8217;s Believe it or Not!, another scene did. Retired army man Ashok Kumar is suffering a heart attack when he hears military music on All India Radio. Our man recovers instantly8212;he springs up from bed and starts marching!

Dil Se
Certainly not made dimaag se. Mani Ratnam seemed to have lost his way8212;and the story line8212;in the breathtaking locales which were the only thing that stayed with you after the much awaited The End blew up in your face.

Ek Hindustani
Directed by Tinnu Anand, this Suniel Shetty movie is still in the making. But after the debacle of LoC, the makers are just a little nervous.

Fiza
Jaya Bachchan was her natural self and even Hrithik Roshan and Karisma Kapoor were convincing. Too bad that what turned out to be most memorable was Sushmita Sen8217;s Mehboob Mere.

Gadar8212;Ek Prem Kathaa
Punjab da puttar Junior was a little hard on the eardrums but the film managed to successfully package patriotism with love, colour and catchy songs. A sarson da saga well told.

Haqeeqat
Probably one of the best war movies till date. Set against the backdrop of the 1963 Indo-China conflict, the film had a stirring performance by Balraj Sahni as an officer who inspires his battalion.

Indian
Has Sunny Deol replaced Manoj Kumar as Bharat? Deol parrots dialogues like 8216;8216;Hum haath milana bhi jaante hain aur haath todna bhi8217;8217; and then proceeds to concentrate on the latter.

Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai
This Raj Kapoor-starrer may not have been strictly patriotic, since it revolved more around dacoits, but its Hothon Mein Sachai Rehti Hai factor made us feel good.

Kranti
If freedom could be won by song and dance we would have got it in 1857 itself. Dilip Kumar was wasted, but director Manoj Kumar ensured that heroines Hema Malini and Praveen Babi were not in this tired script of whites vs We the People.

Lagaan
It may not have bagged an Oscar but it showed patriotism in a way that was not trite and tested.

Major Saab
The movie started with 8216;8216;All characters in this film are fictional and bear no resemblance to any person dead or alive8217;8217;. Thank God for that. But to be fair, it did inspire lots of youngsters to try and make it to the National Defence Academy where, supposedly, manholes are escape routes to the city and instructors take a keen and active interest in the cadets8217; love life.

Nineteen Forty-Two8212;A Love Story
Quit India was the theme and we wish the film-makers would also quit trying to sell love and war together in the hope that at least one would ring in the returns. The love part was well-handled, to the extent that it overshadowed the patriotic message.

Oh Darling, Yeh Hai India
Oh darling yeh hai a movie gone dreadfully wrong. It was meant to be a boy Shah Rukh Khan meets girl Deepa Sahi tale, but director Ketan Mehta was stuck on the title. So we sat through a menagerie of dons, prez clones and the country on sale. All of it led to the duo saving Bharat. Too bad they couldn8217;t do the same to the movie.

Prem Pujari
Dev Anand even curbed his mannerisms in this film. Manoj Kumar unfortunately could not do the same in Purab Aur Paschim and spent his time looking at the heady cocktail of firangs, fields and family values he had stirred up.

Qayamat
A city under threat, hostages and a patriotic officer Suniel Shetty out to save the world. Inspired by The Rock the movie did anything but rock.

Roja
An intelligent and entertaining flick. Thank you Mani Ratnam for not calling it Roja: A Love Katha.

Sarfarosh
One of the few movies to openly name and blame Pakistan for the games they play. Brilliant attempt.

The Legend of Bhagat Singh
We all know that history repeats itself. But like this? Four movies on Bhagat Singh were released simultaneously last year8212;The Legend, Shahid Bhagat Singh, Shaheed-e-Azam and 23rd March 1931. Only the first, by Raj Kumar Santoshi, passed the test. Ajay Devgan8217;s smouldering eyes stayed with you long after you left the theatre.

Upkar
Not our fault if Manoj Kumar keeps making a comeback in this list8212;he wasn8217;t called Bharat for nothing, y8217;know. But this was certainly his most decent film after Shaheed where he brought to life Lal Bahadur Shastri8217;s slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan. And who can forget the soul- stirring and eminently hummable Mere Desh Ki Dharti?

Vijeta
Didn8217;t the makers of Major Saab see Vijeta before it went on the floors? One of the few movies to portray the National Defence Academy as it is, it showed the potential of Kunal Kapoor8212;one that was sadly never realised.

Watan Ke Rakhwale
Any resemblance to patriotism, living or dead, ended with the first word of the film8217;s name. Unless you can find some parallel between the freedom struggle and Mithun Chakravarty scaling prison walls like Spiderman.

Xtra Terrestrial Aur Kashmir
Ok, ok, this was just a suggestion. But it8217;s probably the only angle that8217;s not been tackled by the peddlers of patriotism. Worth a try, don8217;t you think? Only Bharat Kumar and Papa Devgan need apply.

Yeh Dil Aashiqana
Kuku Kohli set this love story against the backdrop of the Indian Airlines plane hijack from Kathmandu to Kandahar. To avoid too many complications read research, they changed the route to Mumbai-Pune. Makes no sense? Just like the movie.

Zameen
Ajay Devgan, Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu, an Indian delegation in PoK8212;in short, every cliche in the book. Time to remind film-makers that the genre called patriotic is not supposed to be senseless anti-Pak rhetoric.