MUMBAI: Today is the auspicious day of India’s 74^th Independence, on this occasion that every Indian eagerly awaits and takes pride in. Over the years, among the various activities and engagements that take place around this celebration, it is the movies based on the patriotic theme that even today uplift our spirits and infuses the sense of pride within us for our country. With most of us being home bound this year, what better way to embrace the significance of the day than to watch these diverse storylines depicting either freedom fighters, unsung heroes or stories of national essence, now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar for free. 

Movies

Hindi

Mission Mangal 

Based on the extraordinary true story of India’s finest scientists who rose above all hardships and failures to make India the only country to reach Mars in its first attempt  

Cast: Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Tapsee Pannu  

Baby 

A special task force from Indian intelligence is on a top-secret mission to nab the terrorists and foil the inhumane anti-India terror attacks. Will they succeed?

Bhaag Mikha Bhaag

A biopic on Milkha Singh aka 'The Flying Sikh,' the film chronicles his incredible struggle; from being an orphan to becoming one of India’s greatest athletes.

Cast: Farhan Akhtar, Sonam Kapoor, Divya Dutta

Raid

Inspired by real-life events, it's the story of a fearless Income Tax officer Amay Patnaik, who carries out a risky raid at the mansion of the most powerful man in Lucknow.

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'Cruz and Saurabh Shukla 

Gour Hari Daastan  

Based on the life and times of freedom fighter Gour Hari Das, who struggled against his own government to recognise his work and contribution in the Indian history. 

Cast: Vinay Pathak, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ranvir Shorey and Tannishtha Chatterjee  

India’s most wanted 

Five ordinary men, one global terrorist, witness India’s biggest manhunt operation in this film inspired by true events. 

Cast: Arjun Kapoor Sudev Nair Rajesh Sharma Prashanth Alexander Shantilal Mukherjee, Aasif khan 

Mangal Pandey 

Mangal Pandey is a Hindi historical, biographical film on the life of Mangal Pandey, an Indian soldier who was at the helm of the 1857 Revolution. Directed by Ketan Mehta, , it was produced by Bobby Bedi.

Cast: Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji, Ameesha Patel and Kirron Kher 

23rd March 1931 Shaheed 

Chronicling the life and times of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, the Indian rebellious freedom fighter, who along with his two comrades, Rajguru and Sukhdev happily gave their life for the country. 

Cast: Bobby Deol, Sunny Deol, and Amrita Singh 

Indu Sarkar 

Set in the Indian Emergency period, Indu marries Navin Sarkar; a government official. Her life changes forever when she happens to venture into an area, where the residents are protesting against the government. 

Cast: Kirti Kulhari, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Anupam Kher, Tota Roy Chowdhury, Nitanshi Goel and Supriya Vinod  

Zameen 

When an Indian plane is hijacked by terrorists, Colonel Ranvir, a strict army man must forget his past and team up with the diligent ACP Jaydev to plan the rescue mission. 

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan and Bipasha Basu.   

Telugu 

Alluri Sitaramaraju  

Alluri Sitaramaraju is a Telugu drama that narrates the story of Alluri Seetharama Raju, a great freedom fighter who used to reside in Mannem forest near Araku in Andhra Pradesh. With the tribal rebellion, he fought against the wrong-doings of the British general Rutherford. 

Cast: Krishna, Vijaya Nirmala, Jaggayya 

Kanche

The love story of Dhupati Haribabu (Varuntej), the grandson of the village barber (Gollapudi Maruthi Rao) and Rachakonda Sitadevi (Pragya Jaiswal), the granddaughter of the Zamindar of Devarakonda set against the backdrop of the World War II. Hari and Sita fall in love with each other much against the wishes of her grandfather and brother Eshwar (Nikitin). What happens when Eshwar and Hari come face to face while together fighting against the Nazis on behalf of the British Indian Army forms the rest of the story. Kanche has also bagged a 2016 National Award for the category Best Telugu Film, directed by Krish. 

Cast: Varun Tej, Pragya Jaiswal, and Nikitin Dheer   

Malayalam 

Keerthichakra 

Based on true events related to insurgency in Kashmir, the film is about Major Mahadevan and team of NSG commandos who are assigned to counter terrorist activities in the state. 

Cast: Mohanlal, Jiiva, Nawab Shah, Biju Menon, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy and Gopika 

Kandahar 

Partly inspired by the 1999 Kandahar hijack, the film is about what happens when an Indian aircraft is hijacked by terrorists, and how Major Mahadevan, with his team of commandos, saves the hostages 

Cast:  Mohanlal, Amitabh Bachchan and Ganesh Venkatraman  

Take Off 

The film is based on a real-life rescue mission to save the Indian nurses stranded in Tikrit, Iraq, during the country's civil war in 2014. 

Cast:  Kunchacko Boban, Parvathy Thiruvothu and Fahadh Faasil   

Tamil 

Payanam 

A plane is hijacked by ruthless terrorists and the government must rescue the hostages. Major Raveendra, who was once involved in capturing terrorist leader Yusuf Khan, is given the task of resolving the situation when Khan’s colleagues carry out a hijacking to force the release of their chief. Helping Ravendra is the brave Nawaz Khan.  

Cast: Nagarjuna, Bharath Reddy  

Bengali

Kabir

The film is based on the capturing of Yasin Bhatkal, co-founder of Indian Mujahideen and conspirator of several bomb blasts in India, by the National Investigation Agency. 

Cast: Dev, Rukmini Maitra, Priyanka Sarkar