IIFA continues with its list of Indian cinema highlighting different aspects of patriotism, and how it deals with the new realities of war and national leadership.

Border (1997)

J.P. Dutta’s Border can be classed as the most successful war movie till date. Made on epic scale with an ensemble cast, the film was based on the events of the Battle of Longewala in the Indo-Pak war of 1971. Although the director faced criticism from some quarters for his biased presentation of historical facts (Indian army faced minimal loss with the loss of two lives), the film was a blockbuster hit.

The film plot traces the heroism of a band of 120 soldiers of the Punjab regiment of the Indian Army headed by Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (Sunny Deol) and their all night defense of the Indian post in the Western front of Rajasthan until assistance came from the Indian Air Force the next morning. The film cemented newcomer Akshaye Khanna as one of the most promising star sons. The film also won the ‘National Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration’ from the President of India.

Dutta had conceptualized the movie as a tribute to the immense sacrifice made time and again by the Indian Armed Force. And he had full support of the Indian army who lent him real weapons and ammunition during the filming. Even now, the song “Sandeshe Ate Hain” is played regularly in every Indian Army celebration.

Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001)

The year 2001 saw the release of two films which made history in Indian cinema for their own reasons, and both find mention in this list. First up is Gadar: Ek Prem Katha; the plot revolves around the love story of Tara Singh (Sunny Deol), a Sikh truck driver and Sakina (Ameesha Patel), a Muslim girl belonging to an aristocratic family. The protagonists’ stories unfold against the background of the partition of India and the Sikh/Hindu and Muslim massacre that went with it.

Although it had its share of jingoism and pop nationalism, the film did show the after effects of the partition and the dilemma of the common man whose loyalty towards a nation was to be judged by his religious belief. The film proved to be the biggest hit of Sunny Deol’s long career and is the fourth highest grossing Hindi movies of all time.
Interestingly, Gadar: Ek Prem Katha was set up for a clash at the box office with Amir Khan’s first home production Lagaan. Industry traders were skeptical about the audiences’ reaction towards two movies with patriotic themes. But, the overwhelming support of cine goers towards both these movies put such fears to rest.

Lagaan (2001)

Aamir Khan’s first home production was an ambitious one. The script required a mixture of Indian and international actors and a dry arid agricultural location, finally Bhuj in Gujarat’s Kutch district was selected. The script also demanded that the film had a mixture of Avadhi (for the farmers) and Hindi/English (for the Britishers) dialogues. But the cast, crew and the producers’ completely backed director Ashutosh Gowariker and a new chapter was written in Indian Cinema, a chapter which celebrated the power of a good script above everything else.

Set in the British Raj, the film is narrated in flashback by the “Sutradhar” (Amitabh Bachchan) and tells the tale of how a bunch of peasants led by Bhuvan (Aamir Khan) defeated the Britishers in a game of cricket and saved their village from three years taxation by the British Government. All native experiences were woven into the fabric of the script. So you have the crippling land taxes, the endless wait for the monsoons, the impoverished peasants, the fascination with the “English” game of cricket and finally the win of the underdogs over the white man in their very own game.

The film had a World Premiere at the 2001 IIFA Weekend in Sun City, South Africa and opened to tremendous Indian and international response. It was the first Indian film to have a nationwide release in China. The film won 7 National Awards and 10 IIFA Awards and also got nominated for the 2002 Academy Awards under the category “Best Foreign Language Film”.

Lakshya (2004)

Lakshya is essentially the coming of age story of a young man set against the Indian Army’s attack on the Tiger Hills during the Kargil conflicts between India and Pakistan. Penned by Javed Akhtar and directed by his son Farhan Akhtar, Lakshya tells the story of Karan (Hrithik Roshan), a product of his generation, directionless and confused, and how a stint at the Indian Military Academy helps him find his focus in life. The film traces his growth from a confused kid to a mature officer culminating in his mission to recapture an Indian post after scaling 1000-ft wall of rock and attacking the enemy stronghold from behind during the night.

The film also stars Priety Zinta in a role which had similarity to journalist Barkha Dutt who had reported the Kargil conflict for the erstwhile Star News network. Most of the film’s shooting was done in Leh and Ladakh under extremely trying conditions with Hrithik Roshan having to go in for training to fit his role as an Army official. Lakshya was a turning point in Indian cinema. For a movie dealing with the events of the Kargil war, there was no jingoism or pop nationalism in the film. Instead, it focused on how the youth of today dealt with the concepts of nationalism and freedom, when faced with the immediate realities of war in their lives. This fascination from the youth’s point of view would be explored at length by by Rakesyh Mehra in “Rang De Basanti”.

Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2005)

Shyam Benegal’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero tells a tale of a freedom fighter who has always held an ambiguous position in our national history. Probably the most contentious figure in our struggle of freedom, Bose’s life and death has always been surrounded by controversy. The film starts as a flashback and attempts to reconstruct his life during the 30’s and the 40’s starting from his resignation as the president of the Indian National Congress (I.N.C.) and his subsequent attempts to form a revolutionary Army to oust the British.

With Sachin Khedekar playing the main lead, the film is almost a biopic delving into his romantic relationship with his German secretary, his meeting with Adolf Hitler and ends with a radio announcement of his death. Historically, Bose’s ways of raising support for an armed struggle earned him quite a bit of notoriety. The film does not whitewash these facts, but shows that it was patriotism and love for his mother nation that made him follow the unorthodox means of accepting support from Germany and Japan. A long time in the making, the film also had U-Boat (Deutsche: ‘Untersee Boat’) submarine scenes. Although not one of the most successful films on nationalism, it did succeed in reminding the audience that the struggle for Independence did have heroes other than the Nehrus and the Gandhis.

Rand De Basanti (2006)
Range De Basanti was a film born from Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra belief that the sense of “patriotism had blurred” in the young generation. And from that perspective he wrote about a script which dealt with the modern youth of India played by Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Kunal Kapoor and Soha Ali Khan. Products of their generation, none of these characters have any concept of the immense sacrifice made by their fellow Indians to secure their independence. Political freedom is something that they take for granted. All this changes when struggling British film maker Sue (Alice Patten) comes to India to film a documentary based on her grandfather’s diary.

The diary deals with the Indian revolutionary movement led by Chandrasekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru, Ashfaqulla Khan, and Ram Prasad Bismil. She convinces Aamir and gang to play the parts for her documentary and while essaying the characters, the idealism of India’s revolutionary heroes seeps into the protagonists. They start identifying with the characters they portray in Sue’s film and realize that the state of affairs that once plagued the revolutionaries continues to torment their generation. The controversy of importing cheap MiG-21 aircraft spare parts is woven into the script with the death of Flight Lieutenant Ajay Singh Rathod (R. Madhavan), Soha’s fiancé is killed in a flight crash.

This film touched the chords of the youth of India had an immense social effect. For the first time, the issue of freedom and the apathetic political situation was shown from their perspective. The film could also be seen as a comeback for music maestro A.R. Rehman who hadn’t had a hit since 2002’s “Saathiya”. The ease with which the 40 year old played the part of a 20 year old proved beyond doubt that Aamir could mould himself into any role, thus being a true “actor” instead of just a “star”. All other actors including Sharman, Kunal, Atul Kulkarni and Siddharth also received great reviews for their work.

Each of the films which finds a mention in this list shows how every director and actor brings something new to the table. Everyone’s personal perspective colours how they see their own national history and that affects their creative vision as well.
Although its difficult to include every film made in the spirit of patriotism, we hope that this list is at least indicative enough of the great tradition of cinematic tradition that Indian cinema has to offer.

Cinematic representations of India’s national history have been many to say the least. Be it the lives of freedom fighters, the Indo-Pakistan/Indo-Sino wars, or Nehruvian optimism about nation building, all have provided inspiration to generations of film makers and actors. On the day of India’s 63rd year of Independence, IIFA lists down twelve of Indian Cinema’s big screen efforts to showcase the varied histories of India.

Shaheed (1948)
Ramesh Sehgal’s Shaheed was post-independent India’s first patriotic film release. The film starred Kamini Kaushal, Chandra Mohan, Leena Chitnis and Dilip Kumar who portrayed freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. This was the first time where films celebrating nationalistic sentiments didn’t have to face strict censorship under an alien government rule and Sehgal took full advantage of this scenario. The collective movie going public had tears in their eyes in the scene where Dilip Kumar embraces the hangman’s noose as his wedding garland. The film went on to become a super hit and grossed over Rs. 75, 00,000 (nett) at the box office.

Mother India (1957)
An Indo-Russian co-production, Mehboob Khan’s Mother India did not deal with the struggle of India’s freedom under the British rule instead it sought to create a new symbol of Indian womanhood as the repository of Indian values. In a land where the mother figure is revered as a goddess, Nargis’s character (Radha) who was portrayed as the “mother” of the land struck a chord with the Indian audience. Her character stood for the Indian values of honesty and righteousness, ultimately sacrificing her son (Sunil Dutt) to uphold those very values.
Declared an all time blockbuster, Mother India cemented Nargis’s position as one of the greatest actress’s in Indian cinema. Besides Nargis, the cast included Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raaj Kumar in male leads. The film was India’s first submission for the Academy Awards under the category of “Best Foreign Film” but lost out on the golden statue by one vote.

Haqeeqat (1964)
Chetan Anand was a war movie veteran of his time, but his Indo-Sino war movie Haqeeqat finds its way into the list because of its very feisty heroine. In war movies it is expected that the hero (Dharmendra in this case) will try to save his country till his last breath, but here you have the hero’s love interest Angmo (Priya Rajvansh) picking up the gun and firing at the Chinese soldiers at point blank range. Ultimately the lead pair dies a bloody death but not before they kill the last of the Chinese invaders thereby saving the country’s borders. The film won the National Film Award for Second Best Feature Film in 1965.

Chetan Anand’s films were always characterized with great music, Haqeeqat was no exception. In fact it has one song which is ingrained in the national psyche as one of the greatest paean to Indian nationhood – Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo.

Upkaar (1967)
Even after more than 40 years of its release, Manoj Kumar’s magnum opus Upkaar is still regarded by many as one of the finest cinematic examples of nation building. The story goes that then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri had asked the actor who had already created a screen image for himself as a patriotic hero to make a film glorifying the Indian farmer and the Indian soldier.

Released just after the Indo – Pakistan war of 1965, the film rode on the rising national sentiments of Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan (hail the soldier and hail the farmer). In the first part of the movie, we see Manoj Kumar as a happy farmer extolling the virtues of his land in the song Mere Desh Ki Dharti. The significance of this was not lost on the Indian audience as in 1965, the nation had just got started on its plan for food self sufficiency through the Green Revolution which was a matter of great national pride. Later on the hero goes on to volunteer in the Indian Army to save his border from enemy encroachment making him a national hero in the film. Even the heroine (Asha Parekh) plays a progressive doctor advocating family planning.

Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977)
Shatranj Ke Khiladi is considered by many a critic to be one of the finest examples of a film set in a pre-independent India setting due to its attention to detail. Helmed by a stellar director – Satyajit Ray – and based on a short story by famed writer Munshi Premchand, the film casts a critical eye on the apathetic political situation of the state of Oudh and the detachment of India’s ruling class towards their duties. Unlike popular filmography where the villain is always the foreign power, Shatranj Ke Khilari chooses to dwell over the role of the Indian nobility in the decline of the state which led to its annexation by foreign powers.

On the one hand you have the Nawab (Amjad Khan), a connoisseur of art and poetry completely unable to fight the British usurpation of his throne; on the other, you have two nobles (Saeed Jaffrey and Sanjeev Kumar) escaping from Lucknow for the pleasure of a game of chess. Both the main and the parallel story highlight the two fold abandonment of responsibilities towards the state and the family.
The film was nominated for Golden Bear for Best Film at the 28th Berlin International Film Festival.

Kranti (1981)
Kranti can be termed as Manoj ‘Bharat” Kumar’s last patriotic offering where he got to direct his idol Dilip Kumar. The film is based in the years 1825 – 1875 and marks the treachery of the Britishers against the princely states of India. Against this backdrop we have the story of two young men who aim to drive the British out of India by forming a group of revolutionaries.

Kranti put its mark on Indian film lore for a number of reasons. Not only did it have a mega star cast of all the big names: Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha, Parveen Babi, it also marked the comeback of Dilip Kumar after a hiatus of five years, and this was enough to pull the audience to the theaters. The film was a declared a Golden Jubilee hit and was the top grossing Hindi film of the 80s.

To be Continued…