Flags hoisted atop roofs, tricoloured balloons placed outside establishments, and restaurants with special menus patriotic fervour has gripped the country today. If you want to take this feeling a notch higher, we suggest you do so by spending your day watching films that revisit the values on which our country was formed and the principles that we continue to stand for. On the occasion of India’s 75th Independence Day, we ask filmmakers and film enthusiasts to recommend a movie one can watch to commemorate the occasion.
CHRONICLING THE LIFE OF BRAVEHEARTS
Film blogger Devesh Hasija (@moviesandcharacters on Instagram) recommends the 2020 action-drama film Shershaah. Based on the life of Captain Vikram Batra, who was martyred during the 1999 Kargil War, Hasija feels that this film gives an insight into the life of a soldier. “What made me emotional throughout the movie was the thought about how family and friends of soldiers must feel witnessing their loved ones die in war. This thought scared me the most. We cannot even imagine the grief they go through,” shares Hasija.
FILM: Shershaah
CAST: Sidharth Malhotra, Kiara Advani, Nikitin Dheer
WATCH ON: Amazon Prime Video
A FRESH TAKE ON PATRIOTISM
Gurugram-based filmmaker Manan Kathuria (22) says that Rang De Basanti by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra happens to be a film that “takes you on a journey, which speaks about Independence at the top of one’s voice”. Kathuria feels that the film evokes a feeling of pride and freedom in the audience. “The film is about a journey that explores the act of revolution from the eyes of the youth. The youth that lives the past in the present, the youth that shapes the future, and the youth that embraces it, safeguards it and empathises with it. As ‘Mohe Rang de Basanti’ translates to ‘Paint me in the colour of sacrifice’, the journey transitions into Independence,” he concludes.
FILM: Rang De Basanti
CAST: Aamir Khan, Siddharth, Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan, R Madhavan
WATCH ON: Netflix
A representation of the present
Aanchal Kapur (53), the founder of Kriti Film Club, one of the oldest film clubs in Delhi, recommends Turup (Checkmate), a 2017 film directed by Ektara Collective and written by Maheen Mirza. The film is centred on the life of three women who navigate through the boundaries set in the wake of morality and religion. “As an Indian, I believe in democracy. This is a film that gives me hope in democracy. Patriotism for me is rooted in democratic ideals and not a false idea of nationalism,” shares Kapur, who feels that the film reinvigorates her idea of the strength of democracy.
FILM: Turup
CAST: Maulina Midde, Sheela Rawat, Madhu Bhagat
WATCH ON: YouTube
Revisiting the idea of India
MS Sathyu’s Garm Hava is West Delhi-based filmmaker Priyanka Chhabra’s pick for Independence Day. The 1970 drama film deals with the plight of a North Indian Muslim businessman and his family, after the partition. “This film is probably the only one of its kind, which weaves in the role of the custodian of evacuee property in the years following the Partition,” shares Chhabra. Sathyu’s film focuses on the experiences of those who decided to stay in the country while showcasing the social changes that succeeded the Partition. “If everything around him [the protagonist] be it socially, economically, and legally is working against his decision, then what is the idea of choice and what are the stakes in exercising that choice becomes foregrounded in a very emotional journey through the film.”
FILM: Garm Hava
CAST: Balraj Sahni, Farooq Shaikh
WATCH ON: YouTube