Ever since the Covid-19 lockdown began in March, OTT platforms have come up with movies that gave us a peak into the lives of famous Indians, be it Gunjan Saxena - The Kargil Girl or human computer Shakuntala Devi. On the occasion of India's 74th Independence Day, we cherry-picked some movies to watch over the weekend.
These movies are drawn from the 1980s to the present because several movies that we would add to this must-watch list are unfortunately not available on streaming platforms or even on YouTube. Also, we are only limiting this list to movies in Hindi while also staying away from some web series that dealt with the same topic. So, here goes the list:
Lagaan (2001)
Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Actors: Aamir Khan, Gracy Singh, Rachel Shelly, Paul Blackthorne
Platform: Disney Plus HotStar
Synopsis: The film is set in the early 1890s, during the late Victorian period of India's colonial rule. The story revolves around a fictional village in Gujarat who are having to pay hight taxes in spite of facing drought. They find themselves in a situation where an arrogant British regent challenges them to a game of cricket, as a wager to avoid paying the taxes. How a motley crowd of villagers are taught the game by a friendly British lady and manage to retain their pride makes up the movie, which was India's nomination for the Academy Awards in 2002.
Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019)
Director: Aditya Dhar
Actors: Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Yami Gautam
Platform: Zee5
Synopsis: The movie is a dramatised account of the Indian Army's surgical strike deep into Pakistani territory following the 2016 Uri terror attack. Though the movie recreates the action in a very emphatic manner, several dramatic interventions are created that weren't part of the incident, such as creating a bird shaped drone. Vicky Kaushal essayed the title role of Major Vihaan Singh Shergill, who leads the crack unit of the Indian Army's Special Forces. He came in for high praise for the role.
Gandhi (1982)
Director: Richard Attenborough
Actors: Ben Kingsley, Martin Sheen, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Synopsis: An epic historical drama based on Mahatma Gandhi's struggle for freedom against British rule, the movie created history of sorts by getting nominated for as many as 11 Academy Awards and winning eight. Besides the Best Picture Oscar, the movie also won Ben Kingsley his only Academy Award from four nominations. It also got India its first Oscar that went to Bhanu Athaiya for costume design. The movie was made as an Indo-British co-production and released both in English and Hindi.
Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005)
Director: Ketan Mehta
Actors: Aamir Khan, Toby Stephens, Rani Mukherjee
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Mangal Pandey and William Gordon become friends during a war in Afghanistan. But when the East India Company introduces a rifle that uses cartridges with beef, the sepoy rises in revolt. The British called this the Sepoy Mutiny while in India, this is known as the first war for Indian Independence in April 1857. The story and the screenplay was written by Farrukh Dhondy, an Indian-born British writer who was known for his left-leaning plays and proximity to Nobel laureate Sir V S Naipaul.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose: The Forgotten Hero (2004)
Director: Shyam Benegal
Actors: Sachin Khedekar, Rajit Kapoor, Divya Dutta, Arif Zakaria
Platform: YouTube
Synopsis: The movie was a tribute to India's military hero Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose during the freedom struggle. The movie tells the story of his visit to Nazi Germany in 1941-43 and Japanese-occupied Asia the same year and leading up to the formation of the Azad Hind Fauj. The film won acclaim at the BFI London Film Festival, and received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, and the National Film Award for Best Production Design.
Border (1997)
Director: J P Dutta
Actors: Sunny Deol, Sunil Shetty, Akshaye Khanna and Puneet Issar
Platform: YouTube
Synopsis: The movie narrates a real incident during the 1971 India-Pakistan war on the western front. Known as the Battle of Longewala in Rajasthan's Thar Desert, the battle saw 120 Indian soldiers of the 23rd Battalion of the Punjab Regiment led by then Major Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri who held off more than 2000 enemy soldiers between December 4-7 till they received air support to push them back. The officer received the Maha Vir Chakra for his bravery and retired as a Brigadier. The movie had an ensemble cast and was shot on location for most part. The movie ends with a strong anti-war message, that went down well with the audience.
Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002)
Director: Rajkumar Santoshi
Actors: Ajay Devgan, Sushant Singh, Akhilendra Mishra
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Synopsis: Shaheed Bhagat Singh had such a major impact on Bollywood that not one but seven movies were made on the life of the socialist revolutionary Sikh. He came into prominence for throwing a crude bomb at the Central Legislative Assembly in Delhi and then refusing to escape as he wanted to the trial to rouse patriotic fervour among his countrymen. Actors ranging from Shammi Kapoor to Manoj Kumar and from Sonu Sood to Bobby Deol have played the part. We chose the movie with Ajay Devgan for its easy availability on the OTT platform plus the slick direction of Rajkumar Santoshi.
Kranti (1981)
Director: Manoj Kumar
Actors: Dilip Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Shatrughan Sinha, Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini
Platform: Zee5
Synopsis: Though completely devoid of any historical value, the movie became an epic on the turnstiles due to its huge star cast as well as well mounted battle scenes that traversed land and sea. It told the story of a man who leads a revolution against the early British colonisers and is followed into the battle by his son and eventually his grandson. The movie marked Dilip Kumar's return to the screen after a five-year hiatus that saw him play an elderly role for the first time.
Lakshya (2004)
Director: Farhan Akhtar
Actors: Hrithik Roshan, Amitabh Bachchan, Sushant Singh, Priety Zinta
Platform: Amazon Prime Video
Synopsis: Made in the backdrop of the 1999 Kargil war, the movie told the tale of a young man who seeks his mission in life and finds it with the Indian army. Hrithik Roshan played the lead role of Lt. Karan Shergill who is chosen to accompany a team that is given the task of operating behind enemy lines to secure a peak that the Pak infiltrators had captured during the winter months. The movie was shot in Ladakh and on sets in the Indian Military Academy with real cadets also participating. This was Akhtar's second directorial venture after Dil Chahta Hai but faired poorly at the box office. However, since then it has achieved cult status on the satellite channels and OTT platforms. Till date, it's considered among Roshan's best outings.
Paltan (2018)
Director: J P Dutta
Actors: Sonu Sood, Arjun Rampal, Jackie Shroff, Luv Sinha
Platform: Zee5
Synopsis: Though the movie wasn't a top-grosser at the box-office, we recommend it due to the topicality involving the recent India-China skirmish along the LAC on the eastern borders. This movie is based on a real battle between Indian and Chinese soldiers known as the Nathu La Chow La clashes near the Tibet-Sikkim border during August-September 1967. The movie received good reviews from war veterans from that period though at the box-office it couldn't hold its own due to the lack of stars. Unlike other war films, this one has less of action sequences, given that in reality it was a battle of attrition between the two sides, of the kind that we witnessed more recently during the Doklam standoff in 2017 between India and China.
Since we had decided that ten movies should last a weekend for our readers, we did not delve more into the movies that continues to generate goosebumps each time one watches it. However, we believe our story would be incomplete if we do not have these honourable mentions on the list:
- Rang De Basanti
- Mission Kashmir
- 1971
- LOC Kargil
- Chittagong
- The Ghazi Attack
(with inputs from) Flyx
