Indian cinema recently completed 100 years and it’s interesting to note that a majority of the pioneers were nationalist in nature. Even though most of the filmmaking techniques were foreign, a lot of their work was unabashedly desi. Owing to poor archiving capabilities, not all of their films are available today but they did make an effort towards educating the mass about the ongoing freedom struggle. Here’s paying a tribute to a few of the brave auteurs…

Dadasaheb Phalke
The doyen of Indian cinema broke new grounds when he became the first Indian to direct a film - Raja Harischandra (1913). He later refused lucrative offers from England as he went on to make several movies in the country - not without obstacles though. His films like Kaliya Mardan (1919) daringly professed patriotism.