Bollywood surely knows how to make patriotism bombastic. Nearly every superstar in Bollywood is known to play the lead in a patriotic movie or a movie with patriotic themes. I believe this has been the trend since cinema has been brought to India. Yesteryear star Manoj Kumar, however, was the actor who glamourised the idea of patriotic films, thanks to his movies like Kranti, Purab Aur Paschim, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan etc. No wonder people used to call him Bharat Kumar. In the current generation. Akshay Kumar and John Abraham fight for the tag of the Manoj Kumar of the 21st Century thanks to their nationalism-lined movies. But stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Priyanka Chopra, Deepika Padukone have done their share of patriotic movies or at least, films with patriotic themes.
So we have had our share of bombastic chest-thumping dialogues that declare the hero or the heroine's sense of patriotism. But in these times where we're fighting with each other over who is more patriotic to the country, it is the sentiment of solidarity, unity, harmony and the sense of brotherhood is what India needs right now. So perhaps these dialogues of Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, SRK help in being the true lessons of nationalism that we need right now.
Swades
Rang De Basanti
Mulk
Krantiveer
Dangal
Chak De India
Airlift
Wish you all a very Happy United Independence Day! No more fighting with your own kin!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 15, 2018 03:14 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).