5 patriotic movies that brought unsung heroes into limelight

Bollywood has always taken inspiration from great Indian leaders and freedom fighters. More often, the films are made on legendary heroes like Gandhiji or Bhagat Singh who are revered a lot across the country. However, there have been many others who contributed to maintaining India’s glory both post and during the pre-independence era. Unfortunately, most of them went into oblivion without getting much recognition.

Here are 5 patriotic movies that throw the limelight on such unsung heroes who contributed in their way towards India’s peace, prosperity, and happiness.

Sardar Udham

This historical drama based on the life of Sardar Udham Singh throws light on the life of Udham Singh who killed the notorious General O’Dwyer in London to take revenge for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that killed hundreds of innocent people in Amritsar. Vicky Kaushal played the character of Udham Singh. The other star cast includes Stephen Hogan, Shaun Scott, Banita Sandhu, Kirsty Averton, and Amol Parashar. It was released directly on Amazon Prime Video in October last year.

Tanhaji

It is yet another historical drama based on the life of Tanhaji Malusare, a Maratha soldier from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s army. Directed by Om Raut, Ajay Devgn plays the titular role of Tanhaji who gave his life for the Maratha Kingdom while trying to capture the Kondhana Fort from Udayabhan Rathore, an aid of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. It was directly released in theatres in 2017 and also featured Saif Ali Khan, Kajol, Neha Sharma, and Sharad Kelkar in important roles.

Raazi

This Meghna Gulzar movie is a spy thriller that features Vicky Kaushal and Alia Bhatt in the lead role with good support from Soni Razdan, Amruta Khanwilkar, and Rajat Kapur. Raazi has been adapted from a novel titled Calling Sehmat written by Harinder Sikka which gives a true account of a girl serving as a RAW agent in the Indian Army. At the request of her father she gets married to a military officer in Pakistan and starts relaying information to India.

Shershaah

Starring Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani in the lead, the movie is based on the life of Captain Vikram Batra, who laid down his life during the Kargil War and was instrumental in India’s victory over Pakistan. The movie was directly released on Amazon Prime Video last year and was loved for the romantic pairing of Sid and Kiara, and also for the biographical narration of Captain Batra’s life.

Bhuj: The Pride of India

This war movie is set in the backdrop of the India-Pakistan war that took place in 1971 and is based on the life of Indian Air Force Squadron Leader Vijay Karnik. He was the officer in charge of the Air Force base in Bhuj during the war who reconstructed a damaged landing airbase with the help of 300 local women in 72 hours. Ajay Devgn played the lead role of Vijay Karnik and the supporting star cast included Nora Fatehi, Sonakshi Sinha, Sanjay Dutt, and Sharad Kelkar.