Independence Day 2020: A Bollywood playlist to celebrate our country

Independence Day 2020: As India celebrates its 74th Independence Day on Saturday, we bring you songs to make you feel proud of our country, and those that show a mirror to us, forcing us to be our own better versions for the sake of the country.

India celebrates its 74th Independence Day on Saturday and at a time when staying at home and avoiding large gatherings is the best way to celebrate any occasion, the only way Indians celebrate is through songs and dance. Songs and poems even had a role in the struggle for freedom when revolutionaries used the idea to raise slogans and sentiments against the British empire. ‘Chal Chal Re Naujawaan’, a song by Kavi Pradeep, also part of a Hindi film, shook the British Empire and led the colonial government to issue an arrest warrant against the poet.

A playlist of 10 songs to celebrate our country

It was also a Hindi movie song that moved India’s first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru to tears. Writers Chitalkar Ramchandra /Manian Pradeep’s Ay Mere Watan Ke Logon was sung by Lata Mangeshkar at a function to celebrate the 51st year of the iconic song. She had shared her experience when the then PM had summoned her, “At first I was nervous, thinking I have committed some mistake. But when I met Panditji (Nehru), I saw tears in his eyes. ‘Lata, tumne aaj mujhe rula diya.’”

Many such Hindi film songs come with their own history. We bring an exhaustive playlist of all-time favourite patriotic Bollywood songs. Here’s a playlist to match the sentiments of the moment and make you feel proud of our country.

Mai Lad Jaana (Uri: The Surgical Strike, 2019)

Teri Mitti (Kesari, 2019)

Ae Watan (Raazi, 2018)

Mai Rahu Ya Na Rahu (Manikarnika, 2018)

Hai Preet Ki Reet Sada (Purab Aur Paschim, 1970)

Jahan daal daal par (Sikander-e-Azam, 1965)

And a few to show a mirror to us, forcing us to be our own better versions for the sake of the country:

Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani (Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani, 2000)

Zindagi maut na ban jaaye (Sarfarosh, 1999)

It happens only in India (Pardesi Babu, 1998)

Jinhein Naaz Hain Hindi Par (Pyaasa, 1957)

Which one is your favourite song for the day?

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