3 Stars (out of 4)

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Ae Watan Mere Watan (“Oh Nation My Nation“) provides a glimpse into an vital chapter in Indian’s freedom battle, highlighting the position of 1 inspiring younger revolutionary.

Although not strictly biographical, the movie is predicated on the lifetime of social activist Usha Mehta. Sara Ali Khan performs Usha as a school scholar in Bombay in 1942, the place she protests in opposition to British tyranny together with her boyfriend Kaushik (Abhay Verma) and fellow scholar Fahad (Sparsh Srivastav).

Their involvement deepens after Gandhi’s “Give up India” speech results in his imprisonment, together with the detention of different main figures within the freedom motion. It falls to these on the surface to proceed the battle covertly.

Usha will get the concept to begin a pirate radio station, broadcasting recordings of speeches by Gandhi and others to achieve individuals straight of their properties. Working a non-public radio station is against the law, so it is a harmful proposition, particularly contemplating the willingness of the Brits and their Indian police pressure to make use of violence in opposition to suspected insurgents.

The station — dubbed Congress Radio — is successful, and Usha, Kaushik, and Fahad are invited nearer to the motion’s de facto chief, Ram Manohar Lohia (Emraan Hashmi). Lohia needs to develop the station’s attain past Bombay to the remainder of the nation. However doing so invitations better consideration from the Brits, who will do something squash Congress Radio. They put sadistic officer John Lyre (Alexx O’Nell) in command of discovering the station and those that run it.

Ae Watan Mere Watan excels at exhibiting the great price of being an activist, past the apparent dangers. Usha’s father (performed by Sachin Khedekar) is a choose throughout the British-run court docket system. He sees Usha’s activism as greater than a simply political disagreement, however as a repudiation of his life’s work. Although he’s not portrayed sympathetically, his damage is comprehensible. Usha likewise feels hamstrung by her love for him — she will be able to’t stay in accordance with her beliefs and be a dutiful daughter on the identical time.

Her father isn’t the one man annoyed by the depth of Usha’s devotion to the trigger. It’s unhappy to observe Kaushik as he realizes that no matter future he imagined with Usha — marriage, children, and so forth. — isn’t what she envisions. Romance and revolution aren’t all the time suitable.

Khan is a more-than-capable lead, however Verma and Srivastav are the breakout stars. Verma is pleasant as lovestruck Kaushik. Srivastav performs Fahad with nuance as he evolves from being Usha’s rival to closest ally.

The film additionally makes it clear that not everybody must be keen to put down their life like Usha is with the intention to be useful. One in every of her colleagues is a literature scholar who affords to deal with any writing for the group. One other character provides cash. Revolutions aren’t low-cost.

It’s straightforward to get invested within the characters and material of Ae Watan Mere Watan — a lot in order that the overly melodramatic music and slow-motion photographs within the first half really feel like overkill. Director Kannan Iyer — who co-wrote the screenplay with Darab Farooqui — tells story, so such apparent thrives are pointless.

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