''Ae Watan Mere Watan '' () is a 2024 Hindi-language

historical History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudra ...

about India's struggle for freedom in 1942, based on the life of Usha Mehta, a brave young girl who starts an underground radio station to spread the message of unity, setting off a thrilling chase with the British authorities during the

Quit India movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

. It is written and directed by

Kannan Iyer Kannan Iyer is an Indian filmmaker and actor. He has written films like '' Daud'' (1997) and ''Victory'' (2009); and has also directed a supernatural thriller, ''Ek Thi Daayan'', starring Emraan Hashmi, Konkona Sen Sharma and Huma Qureshi. ...

and produced by

Karan Johar Karan Johar (born Rahul Kumar Johar; 25 May 1972), often informally referred to as KJo in the Hindi Film Industry, is an Indian filmmaker and television personality, who primarily works in Hindi cinema. He has launched the careers of several s ...

, starring

Sara Ali Khan Sara Ali Khan Pataudi (; born 12 August 1995) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Born into the Pataudi family, she is the daughter of actors Amrita Singh and Saif Ali Khan. After graduating with a degree in history and political sc ...

, Alexx O'Nell and

Emraan Hashmi Emraan Anwar Hashmi (; born 24 March 1979) is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Hindi cinema. Hashmi debuted in 2003 with the crime thriller film ''Footpath'' and subsequently appeared in films include ''Murder'' (2004), '' Kalyug'' ...

. The film premiered on 21 March 2024 on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

to mixed reviews from critics.

Cast

* Garrvil Mohan as Lieutenant Roy

Production

Principal photography commenced in October 2022 and first schedule ended in December. The second schedule began by April 2023 and the film wrapped up in May 2023.

Soundtrack

The music of the film was composed by Mukund Suryawanshi, Akashdeep Sengupta and Shashi Suman while lyrics were written by Suryawanshi, Ravi Girri, Rohan Deshmukh, Darab Farooqui and Prashant Ingole.

Reception

Critical response

A critic from '' Bollywood Hungama'' gave 3 out of 5 stars and wrote "''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' is worth watching as it presents an untold chapter of Indian history." Sukanya Verma of ''

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

'' gave 3/5 stars and observed "''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' tries to get a grasp on the mind of youngsters, shaped by the words of inspiring leaders, committed to the cause of independent India. It's significant because their support isn't based on 'andh bhakti' (blind devotion), but leadership that encourages questions". NDTV's

Saibal Chatterjee Saibal Chatterjee is an Indian film critic, an author of a book on Gulzar, co-editor of a book on films; and a documentary scriptwriter. He was a columnist at BBC News, Business Standard, Hindustan Times and Financial Express. And a staff writer of ...

rated the film 2.5 out of 5, opining in his review that, "''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' makes its points with clarity and directness. It tells a tale that has meat, but the storytelling style that the film adopts stops it significantly short of being either consistently riveting or memorably rousing". He criticized the lead performance, opining that, "Sara Ali Khan, playing the principal character, is way too porcelain and dainty to convey the remarkably doughty woman's fierce determination." Zinia Bandyopadhyay of '' India Today'' gave 2/5 stars and wrote that "''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' drowns in a lacklustre script despite having the potential to be an effective story." Firstpost's Lachmi Deb Roy, in her review, rated the film 2/5 and said that "Though the film was able to weave the freedom movement with enough human stories showing Usha’s contribution to the Quit India movement, but ''Ae Watan Mere Watan'' was unable to give us those goosebumps which a freedom movie generally does". Shubhra Gupta of Indian Express called the film a "banal blur". She panned the film, opining that "nothing about this period drama breaks out of familiar moulds" and that "Sara Ali Khan leaves little impact." However, she called Sparsh Srivastav the "breakout star", praising his performance as a polio-afflicted young freedom fighter.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt19864942 2024 films 2020s Hindi-language films Films set in the Indian independence movement Amazon Prime Video original films 2020s historical drama films 2024 biographical drama films Films set in 1940 Films set in the British Raj Indian biographical drama films Indian direct-to-video films Indian historical action films 2024 direct-to-video films Cultural depictions of Mahatma Gandhi