BOLLYWOOD’S FLAG-BEARERS OF PATRIOTIC CINEMA

NEW DELHI: Independence Day. Can you imagine this occasion without Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak, Nehru, Netaji Bose, BR Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh, Sardar Patel… and from the Bollywood side, Akshay Kumar? You might as well add John Abraham and Kangana Ranaut to that list, lest the duo have any hard feelings later. These are just three of the Hindi marquee stars, with a little help from Ajay Devgn, who are responsible for the extraordinary rise of patriotic-themed Hindi movies in the last decade. Put another way, if the “josh” of nationalistic content is high these days — sorry, Uri (2019) guys — blame it on the Desi Boyz (2011) and our very own Rani Jhansi (Manikarnika, 2019) who famously called herself an “ultranationalist.”

In fact, Kangana’s Manikarnika and the Vicky Kaushal starrer Uri might just be the first cultural artefacts of the Modi era. The Rani Lakshmi Bai biopic Manikarnika celebrated India’s rich past while Uri talked proudly about the triumphant “naya Hindustan” (new India), au courant with the Prime Minister’s vision for India as the next military and economic superpower. One way to track how Hindi films have got so nationalistic in flavour lately is to look for the traces of the Tricolour in its frames. That won’t be difficult because symbolically speaking, Indian flag is virtually everywhere in Bollywood movies of today.

In Shershaah, the latest of a clutch of patriotic releases, Siddharth Malhotra plays the Kargil war hero Vikram Batra, who sacrificed his life on the battlefield. Manoj Kumar films evoke the feelings of patriotism, be it Shaheed (1965), Upkaar (1967), Kranti (1981) and the oft parodied Clerk (1989). Manoj Kumar remains the de facto hero.