As the nation sets up the podium to welcome the 72nd Independence Day, we tend to follow the routine adapted since decades. Waking up to a new zeal, with tri-coloured symbols around, attending a flag hoisting ceremony followed by tuning in to the parade telecast. A day to cherish, a day to celebrate, and with a gifted national holiday, what better than enjoy a movie or two?
With the busy lifestyle upon us, we may have breezed past some epics delivered by Indian cinema. Apart from the clichéd flicks, we have curated a new list with movies that depicted events that rocked the nation.
- Paan Singh Tomar
This 2012 Irrfan Khan starrer is based on the true story of the athlete of the same name. A soldier in the Indian Army, he won a gold medal at the Indian National Games, but was forced to become a bandit.
- No One killed Jessica
The 2011 Indian biographical thriller film was a first take on the Jessica Lal murder case. The film stars Rani Mukerji and Vidya Balan in lead roles and is an attempt to encapsulate the events that followed the arrest of the culprits.
- Talvar
This 2015 Meghna Gulzar flick is based on the 2008 Noida double murder case in which a teenage girl named Arushi Talvar and her family servant were found murdered, and her parents were convicted for the crime. The film stars Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, and Neeraj Kabi in lead roles.
- Parmanu – The Story of Pokhran
The film is based on the nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by the Indian Army at Pokhran in 1998 which stars John Abraham and Diana Penty in lead roles, with Boman Irani and Anuja Sathe.
- Madras Café
Madras Cafe is a 2013 Indian political action drama film by Shoojit Sircar starring John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna and Leena Paul in lead roles. The film is based on the events around the Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan civil war and assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
- Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain
This film is a lesser known 2014 historical drama film set amidst the Bhopal disaster that had occurred in India on 2-3 December 1984, starring Rajpal Yadav, Tannishtha Chatterjee in lead roles. The film is based on the gas leak at Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh that killed over 3000 people.
- Shahid
Shahid is a 2013 Indian Hindi language biographical drama helmed by Hansal Mehta and produced by Anurag Kashyap, UTV Spotboy and Sunil Bohra. Starring Rajkummar Rao, the film is based on the life of lawyer and human rights activist Shahid Azmi who was assassinated in 2010.
- Neerja
The 2016 biopic on air-hostess Neerja Bhanot starring Sonam Kapoor, revolves around her story when the Libyan-backed Abu Nidal Organisation hijacked the Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan, on 5 September 1986. Bhanot, who thwarted the hijack attempt by alerting the pilots, thus grounding the plane, died trying to help save 359 of the 379 passengers and crew on board.
- Raid
Starring Ajay Devgn and Ileana D-Cruz in lead roles, Raid is a 2018 Indian crime-action film inspired by the real-life biggest Income-tax raid that was conducted by the officers of the Income Tax Department under the leadership of a courageous and upright Indian Revenue Service officer in the 1980s.
- Airlift
This Akshay Kumar starrer 2016 Indian historical drama film is based on a Kuwait-based businessman Mathunny Mathews, as he carries out the evacuation of 1,70,000 Indians based in Kuwait during the Invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1990.