August can mean only one thing in India. Celebrating the Indian Independence Day. Watching the Prime Minister address the nation from the Red Fort, taking part in the school parade, singing patriotic songs, and watching Bollywood freedom fighter movies based on independence struggle has long been a part of Independence Day celebration.
Countless people gave their life so that you and me, we can roam around this land without fear. Without fear of discrimination, without fear of atrocities, and without fear of injustice. We owe it to all those who died to never accept injustice and discrimination, and to uphold the principles of equality and justice, because they paid the price of this celebration with their lives.
Biographies of Indian Freedom Fighters
It is almost impossible to tell the stories and sacrifices of all those who died fighting for our freedom. Of those who died in the wet damp cells of the Cellular Jail in Andaman Islands or of those who who suffocated under the bodies of their brothers and sisters in Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. But we can imagine the times, their trials and tribulations from the glimpses of these movies based on Indian Independence that chronicle the lives of those who inspired thousands to sacrifice their lives for a dream that we are still struggling to achieve.
Gandhi
Gandhi is the iconic biographical movie directed by Richard Attenborough. Ben Kingsley play the titular character of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who inspired the masses to stand up against the British rule. But he also saw that an armed struggle will not only be difficult, but would mean huge loss of human life on both sides - a price he wasn't ready to pay. His way of non-violence and non-compliance inspired people in India and abroad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyWRx_2MFbk The movie narrates how and why M. K. Gandhi entered the Indian Independence movement and how he was able to inspire millions across the land from Balochistan to Burma in joining hands against British occupation. I have seen this movie innumerable times play every year on DoorDarshan, but it still doesn't bore me one bit.
The Legend of Bhagat Singh
Shahid Bhagat Singh was a young revolutionary enamored my conviction of Mahatma Gandhi and driven by methods of armed revolutionaries. Bahgat Singh, along with Sukhdev and Rajguru, killed John Saunders are a revenge for death of Lala Lajpat Rai. After hiding from authorities fro some time, he and Batukeshwar Dutt surrendered in the Legeslative Assembly by exploding two bombs. he was later tried and hanged for killing Saunders at the age of 23. It was his defiance and energy, more than the act of killing Saunders, that inspired the youth of India to stand up to the British atrocities and made him a legend. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbqzZz1DQSs
Sardar
Along with being an active freedom fighter, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was a barrister and a leader of Indian National Congress. He was also the first Home Minister of Independent India and played a crucial role in annexing independent territories for Hyderabad and Junagarh to independent India. He was also call the Iron Man of India for his steely resolve to build an united India and keep it integrated post independence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fecn9OFYxNw The movie tells his story from the time when he was not a fan of Ganghi's philosophy to a time when he joined him to organize massive movement across Gujarat and other parts of India. The movie also highlights his differences with Nehru and his use of force and diplomacy in creating an integrated India that is still ready to go up in flames over regional interests after 60 odd years.
Mangal Pandey - The Rising
Mangal Pandey was one of the first who rebelled against the East India Company. A sepoy in the Bengal regiment, trouble began when the soldiers came to know that the new cartridges for the Enfield-P53 rifle used pig skin, which was against their religion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jU0Z2_QVNc The movie shows magal Pandey as a loyal soldier of the company. But when his faith in the officers of the regiment, who promised that the cartidges were not what he thought, is compromised, he joins other like-minded sepoys from across India to mutiny against the Army.
Veer Savarkar
Veer Savarkar or Vinayak Damaodar Savarkar was a Independence activist, poet, revolutionary, and philosopher who imagined a Hindu nation-state based on culture instead of a religion. He was known to be a atheist and dismissed orthodox Hindu religious beliefs as superstitious. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-bYuN8rXwA He was sentenced to 50 years of jail time and transported back to India from London where he was studying and had started India House. During his time in the Andaman Cellular Jail, Savarkar imagined the Hindu Rashtra and wrote his treatise
Hindutva - Who is a Hundu?Dr. BabaSaheb Ambedkar
Babasaheb Ambedkar or Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was the arhtect of Indian Constituion, an economist and a politician who championed the cause of Dalits and fought for equal rights labor, and women. Born in a dalit family, he was one of the few students in the school at Bombay. A prolific student, Ambedkar won the Baroda state scholarship and went on to study at the Columbia University and London School of Economics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSZPrDxFf28 He differed on various policies with Nehru and Gandhi, but remained in the political system and fought for what he thought was just. Including not awarding Article 370 and a special status to the state of Kashmir, as the first Law Minister of the country.
Subhash Chandra Bose
Subhas Chandra Bose was an Indian Nationalist and revolutionary. He started off as the leader of Indian National Congress' youth wing, but left in the environment of rising differences with Mahatma Gandhi and his principles of non-violence. His strong beliefs in military solution to India's Independence took him to Germany where he agreed to a German invasion of India and later joined hands with Japan to form a Indian National Army. Although his patriotism was unquestionable, his methods and choosing to join fascist forces for short-term gain left him a troubled legacy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfzCuNElusk
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