Ae Watan Mere Watan (transl. Oh Country My Country) is a 2024 Hindi-language historical biographical film 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.[2][3] It is written and directed by Kannan Iyer and produced by Karan Johar, starring Sara Ali Khan, Alexx O'Nell and Emraan Hashmi.[4][5] The film premiered on 21 March 2024 on Amazon Prime Video to mixed reviews from critics.[6]
| Ae Watan Mere Watan | |
|---|---|
 Official release poster | |
| Directed by | Kannan Iyer |
| Written by | Darab Farooqui Kannan Iyer |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Amalendu Chaudhary |
| Edited by | Sangeeth Varghese |
| Music by |
|
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Amazon Prime Video |
Release date |
|
Running time | 133 minutes[1] |
| Country | India |
| Language | Hindi |
Cast
edit- Sara Ali Khan as Usha Mehta
- Alexx O'Nell as John Lyre
- Anand Tiwari as Firdaus Engineer
- Sachin Khedekar as Judge Hariprasad Mehta, Usha's father
- Abhay Verma as Kaushik
- Sparsh Srivastav as Fahad
- Benedict Garrett as Corrigan
- Richard Bhakti Klein as Viceroy Linlithgow
- Ashton Bessette as Cameron
- Rick McLane as Grant
- Ed Robinson as Captain Wily
- Godaan Kumar as Balbir
- Uday Chandra as Mahatma Gandhi
- Annuop Choudhari as Gaonkar
- Aditi Sanwal as Antara
- Pratik Yadav as Bhaskar
- Chrisann Pereira as Julie
- Sanjeev Jaiswal as Alok
- Emraan Hashmi as Ram Manohar Lohia[7]
Production
editPrincipal photography commenced in October 2022 and first schedule ended in December. The second schedule began by April 2023[8] and the film wrapped up in May 2023.[9]
Soundtrack
edit| Ae Watan Mere Watan | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Mukund Suryawanshi, Akashdeep Sengupta and Shashi Suman | |
| Released | 9 March 2024[10] |
| Recorded | 2022 |
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack |
| Length | 23:52 |
| Language | Hindi |
| Label | T-Series |
| Official audio | |
| Ae Watan Mere Watan (Full Album on YouTube | |
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.[10]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Qatra Qatra" | Mukund Suryawanshi, Ravi Girri, Rohan Deshmukh | Mukund Suryawanshi | Sukhwinder Singh | 5:11 |
| 2. | "Ae Watan Mere Watan - Title Track" | Darab Farooqui | Akashdeep Sengupta | Romy | 4:53 |
| 3. | "Julia" | Prashant Ingole | Shashi Suman | Divya Kumar, Shashi | 3:21 |
| 4. | "Dua E Azaadi" | Darab Farooqui | Shashi Suman | Javed Ali, Swaroop Khan, Shashi | 6:17 |
| 5. | "Ae Watan Mere Watan - Title Track" (Female Version) | Darab Farooqui | Akashdeep Sengupta | Neeti Mohan | 4:10 |
| Total length: | 23:52 | ||||
Reception
editCritical response
editA 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."[11] Sukanya Verma of Rediff.com 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".[12]
NDTV's Saibal Chatterjee 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."[13] 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."[14]
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".[15] 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.[16]
References
edit- ^ "Ae Watan Mere Watan (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 10 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ "Ae Watan Mere Watan: Sara Ali Khan Pays Tribute To Unsung Heroes Of Quit India Movement". News18. 4 March 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ "'Ae Watan Mere Watan' Trailer: Sara Ali Khan Highlights The Power Of Usha Mehta's Underground Radio In 1942". The Times of India. 4 March 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ "Ae Watan Mere Watan' teaser: KJo retells braveheart Usha's fight against British". India Today. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ "Ae Watan Mere Watan: Sara Ali Khan, Karan Johar, Emraan Hashmi's patriotic film gets release date". Daily News and Analysis. 13 February 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ "On World Radio Day, Sara Ali Khan announces release date of her film 'Ae Watan Mere Watan' on Amazon Prime Video". Firstpost. 13 February 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ "Emraan Hashmi wraps up his cameo in Sara Ali Khan starrer Ae Watan Mere Watan: Report". Bollywood Hungama. 13 February 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ "Sara Ali Khan wraps Homi Adajania's Murder Mubarak; to resume Ae Watan Mere Watan shoot". Bollywood Hungama. 24 April 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
- ^ "Sara Ali Khan wraps Ae Watan Mere Watan: "A true personification of strength, dignity and passion"". Bollywood Hungama. 19 May 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
- ^ a b "Ae Watan Mere Watan – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". JioSaavn. 9 March 2024. Retrieved 10 March 2024.
- ^ Bollywood Hungama News Network (21 March 2024). "Ae Watan Mere Watan Movie Review". Bollywood Hungama.
- ^ "Ae Watan Mere Watan Review: Radio Ga Ga!". Rediff. 21 March 2024.
- ^ "Ae Watan Mere Watan Review: Neither Consistently Riveting Nor Memorably Rousing". NDTV.com. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ "'Ae Watan Mere Watan' Review: School play with hammy script masquerading as film". India Today. 21 March 2024.
- ^ "Ae Watan Mere Watan Movie Review: Sara Ali Khan could have done a better job as freedom fighter Usha Mehta | Amazon Prime Video". Firstpost. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ "Ae Watan Mere Watan movie review: Sara Ali Khan leaves little impact in this banal blur". The Indian Express. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.