New age patriotism in movies

Bollywood nowadays isn’t only resorting to capturing a real-life freedom fighter’s life on camera if they want to make a film on patriotism. Film-makers like Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Shimit Amin thoughtfully toyed with patriotism in their movies Rang De Basanti and Chak De! India respectively to give it a whole new meaning on celluloid that was commercially viable too.Ashutosh Gowariker can be credited for starting this new wave of nationalism in cinema in the past decade, having nearly won an Oscar with Aamir Khan-starrer Lagaan that is essentially a patriotic movie dished with a cricket match setting. Ashutosh showed us how large scale films on patriotism can be made on characters that are not even known historically unlike the usual practice of Bollywood that made movies on popular national leaders like Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhai Patel. Even in Ashutosh’s Swades, Shah Rukh Khan was critically acclaimed for playing an NRI man who falls in love with India so much that he returns to his roots from the US. SRK’s character Mohan wasn’t from the pages of history too. Other filmmakers like Anurag Kashyap, Neeraj Pandey, Nishikant Kamat and Farah Khan have also shown how patriotism as a theme can work wonders with critics and audiences alike.Rakeysh Mehra’s Delhi 6 also echoes modern patriotism laced with a mythological adaptation of Ramayana that showed the victory of goodness over evil. Abhishek Bachchan plays an NRI who comes to visit India with his grandmother and not only does he fall in love with an Indian girl (played by Sonam Kapoor) but also falls in love with the country. And so when trouble over religion breaks out, he could not abandon his native land and in the end gets shot but saves the situation. Pandey’s A Wednesday showed how a common man disturbed and hurt with terrorism takes it upon himself to cleanse society by killing militants. Kamat’s Mumbai Meri Jaan also celebrates nationalism. Kashyap’s Gulaal is an exciting tale of twisted nationalist fervour. Ashutosh is again going patriotic in Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Se.