From Lagaan to Manikarnika: Why India is the biggest ‘Hero’ in our movies?

Time and again, it has been proven that India is the biggest draw at the movies. Package a patriotic thought with some imagination as well as soul and your film will resonate with the audience. Between the ’60s and ’70s, Manoj Kumar, who made the maximum number of patriotic films, earned himself the sobriquet of Mr Bharat. 

Even today, the yesteryear icon’s blockbusters like Upkar (1967), Purab Aur Paschim (1970) and Kranti (1981) are the staple Indian Independence and Republic Day offerings on satellite and digital platforms. Of course, not a single filmmaker could fully pick up from where Manoj left off. But many of them have lent a saffron hue to their cinematic work and succeeded in driving home the message of self before nation. Last year, Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmaavat, Meghna Gulzar’s Raazi and Reema Kagti’s Gold made people applaud the country. And this year’s most successful film, Uri: The Surgical Strike and the recently-released Manikarnika: The Queen Of Jhansi, have also set the cash registers ringing.

FILMMAKER JP DUTTA CONTRIBUTED, TOO

The latter part of the ’90s saw JP Dutta narrate the Battle of Longewala during the 1971 Indo-Pak war with Border (1997). The war drama, backed by punchy dialogues, a heart-rending soundtrack and gritty action, had the audience rooting for our on-screen jawans.

(clockwise): Purab Aur Paschim, Upkar, Kranti, Border and Rang De Basanti

NO DEARTH OF ONSCREEN DESH-BHAKTI

In the late ’90s and early 2000s, Aamir Khan seemed to have taken the mantle of the patriotic Indian with Sarfarosh (1999), Lagaan: Once Upon A Time In India (2001), Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005) and Rang De Basanti (2006). The turn of the century also saw Sunny Deol go nationalistic in a full-throttle way, starting with Anil Sharma’s Gadar: Ek Prem Katha (2001), an action romance that begins in pre-Independence era and ends a few years post Partition. If you adjust the rate of inflation, Gadar could well be one of the highest grossers in B-Town. However, the actor’s subsequent ventures like Indian (2001), Maa Tujhhe Salaam (2002), 23rd March 1931: Shaheed (2002) and Hero: Love Story Of A Spy (2003) didn’t work in comparison to Gadar.

In the past decade, Akshay Kumar has done several movies that evoke a sense of pride for the nation. His Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (2013), Baby (2015), Airlift and Gold (2018) have fared well. His March offering Kesari (based on the 1897 Battle Of Saragarhi) is also bound to give India a rush of the nationalistic sentiment. 

Veteran Trade analyst Taran Adarsh points out that a good patriotic film will always work. “Border was a blockbuster,” he says, adding, “Much before that, Manoj Kumar made a series of nationalistic movies, and they were all super-duper hits.” Conceding that a number of movies in this genre didn’t do as well as expected, like JP Dutta’s LOC Kargil (2003), he reiterates that it all boils down to content. “The narrative has to be gripping. In the earlier films, we used to have song-and-dance numbers, but for a subject like Uri, you can’t have the usual masala. There were many scenes that had the audience applauding, and ‘How’s the josh?’ has become a catchphrase,” he says.

Taran adds, “Even Manikarnika has done well so far. Though many know about Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi, the film tells her story in greater detail. And Kangana has portrayed the brave queen brilliantly. The way a historical is narrated, with the grandeur and the recreation of the period, makes a movie a lot more interesting than the book.” 

(clockwise): Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty, Kesari, Baby, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior and RAW: Romeo Akbar Walter

NATIONALISM IS INGRAINED EARLY ON

One reason a well-made patriotic movie works is that we are by and large proud of our country. Wherever we may be in the whole wide world, we root for our people. “For me, it is India before self,” says an A-list star. Ask him why is he sharing this anonymously and pat comes his reply, “It sounds empty to say you love your country more than you love yourself. Loving your country is like loving your mother. It needn’t be announced or pronounced. But honestly, when we actors talk about patriotism, it sounds a bit fake because you have jawans at the border giving their lives for us. They are taking a bullet in person, we are just taking bullets in the movies. Surely, we are marketing a thought. So, for us to give out too many statements on desh-bhakti sounds hollow in comparison to the soldiers’ sacrifices.”

A senior executive from the exhibitor circuit observes, “Even in a simple cricket match (Lagaan) or any other sport for that matter, we always support our people. When our jawans are attacked in Uri, we feel the anger and when our soldiers strike the enemy, we cheer for them saying, ‘Maaro sabko’. Or in Manikarnika, when Kangana takes on the British Army, we get an adrenaline rush.”

With movies such as Kesari, Romeo Akbar Walter, India’s Most Wanted, Mission Mangal, Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior and Panipat, which are loaded with patriotic fervour, it remains to be seen whether these films, too, will weave their magic at their box office.