The love affair between Bollywood and patriotic films extends back several decades. While filmmakers experimented with such films in the pre-independence era as well, their tone and mood evolved dramatically with the dawn of the 2000s. On one hand films like Gadar (2001) and The Legend of Bhagat Singh (2002) elicited strong feelings of patriotism, while others like Swades, Lakshya (both 2004), and Rang De Basanti (2006) portrayed a new-age definition of aspirational India.
This year, as in previous years, a slew of patriotic films are in the works, including military dramas and spy thrillers — Major, Tejas, Meri Desh Ki Dharti, Pippa, Sam Bahadur, Attack, and Mission Majnu, to mention a few. Siddharth Roy Kapur, the producer and head of the Producers Guild of India, who is supporting the war picture Pippa, feels that the audience is fascinated by India’s rich past, and that filmmakers have and will continue to tap into the genre.
‘We’re more curious about where we stand in history and how it has shaped our present. The themes of patriotism and war coincide with the collective consciousness of the viewers. We want to know who our heroes are through cinema,’ he says.
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