Hindi film industry which is also known as Bollywood has a very strong sense of patriotism. Several wonderful movies based on patriotic themes have been made in India. These movies are a tribute to India and her freedom fighters. Patriotic movies make us proud of our history, country and virtues gifted by the nation. We belong to a great tradition and that is truly reflected through Indian patriotic movies. Nationalistic films were released during both, pre-independence era as well as the post Independence era. It is hard to select just a few patriotic movies because of the number of quality movies based on this theme. Let’s have a look at some of the best patriotic movies made in India.

‘Shaheed’ was perhaps the torchbearer of patriotic movie genre. Released in the year 1948, the movie chronicled the Indian independence movement. This was the period which witnessed release of several nationalist films but Shaheed starring Dilip Kumar and Kamini Kaushal etc stood out because of its class, quality and execution of the theme.

‘Mother India’ is one of the greatest patriotic movies ever made in India. The strength of the movie was its portrayal of Indian rural life. The movie aimed at spreading the message of maintaining traditional and moral values and social customs. The movie was a perfect tribute to Indian womanhood. Mother India had talented star cast of Nargis, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Raj Kumar and was directed by legendary Mehboob Khan.

1964 saw release of a great patriotic movie named ‘Haqeeqat’ starring Balraj Sahni, Dharmendra, Priya Rajvansh and Sanjay Khan among others. Based on Indo-China war and its resulting impact on collective psyche of our nation, the movie is simply mesmerizing and heartbreaking.

When it comes to patriotic movies made in India, who can forget ‘Border’ released in 1997. The ensembled star cast of Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Shetty, Akshaye Khanna, Pooja Bhatt, Sharbani Mukherjee and Tabu, Border was directed by J.P.Dutta. The movie was inspired from real life events taken place during Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The film was truly inspiring and has become a cult movie in the legion of patriotic movies.

Lagaan is one of best movies ever made in India. It was a wonderful mix of cricket and patriotism. Made by Ashutosh Gowarikar and starring Amir Khan and Gracy Singh, Lagaan was a commercial as well as classical hit.

Some of the other great patriotic movies during last few years are, Swadesh, Lakshya, Rang De Basanti and Chak De India. All these movies were based on different stories but had one message of patriotism and awakening. If you haven’t seen any of these movies, it’s high time to see them now.