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Home » Photos » From Jodhaa Akbar to Mughal-e-Azam: Indian historical films that will leave you feeling inspired
From Jodhaa Akbar to Mughal-e-Azam: Indian historical films that will leave you feeling inspired
Kesari, Asoka and Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi are some of the period-drama films that you must watch.
Team OTTplay
Sep 26, 2022Share
Period-drama films you must watch
Movies often take the audiences to the universe of the unknown and create a fictional reality. Sometimes though, these movies take us back in the past. We revisit history through these films. India witnessed many rulers and empires ruling over it and some of our films have tried depicting the surroundings of those times. From Jodhaa Akbar to Kesari, check out different period-drama films that depict the history of India.
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Jodhaa Akbar
Jodhaa Akbar is the 2008 Ashutosh Gowariker period-drama film depicting the love story of Mughal king Akbar and his ladylove Jodhaa bai. The movie features Hrithik Roshan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan in lead roles. It became a blockbuster hit and is still widely remembered for its melodious music and power-packed performances. This must-watch is available on Netflix.
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Asoka
Shah Rukh Khan and Kareena Kapoor Khan starrer Asoka is a drama film depicting the tale of King Asoka and his eventual conversion to Buddhism. The film did not become a box office hit but is one of the period-drama films that portray India’s history on the silver screen. You can watch it on Netflix.
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Shatranj Ke Khiladi
Shatranj Ke Khiladi is the Satyajit Ray-directed 1977 period-drama film, based on Munshi Premchand's short story of the same name. It depicts the situation in Awadh just before the First War of Independence in 1857. The film features Amjad Khan, Richard Attenborough, Sanjeev Kumar, Saeed Jaffrey, Shabana Azmi, Farooque Shaikh, Farida Jalal, David Abraham and Tom Alter in lead roles. Ray uses the symbolism of the game of chess to portray the ongoing situation at the time and is considered to be one of his masterpieces of all time. You must watch it on Amazon Prime Video,
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Mughal-e-Azam
Mughal-e-Azam is an epic-drama film directed and produced by K. Asif. It features Prithviraj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Madhubala and Durga Khote and follows the love affair of Mughal prince, Salim and court-dancer Anarkali. Salim’s father aka King Akbar disapproves of the relationship which causes a feud in the father-son dynamics. The film depicts all these struggles and is considered to be one of the cut-classics in Bollywood. Watch it on Zee5.
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Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Kangana Ranaut-led film Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi is based on the real-life story of a war hero, best known as Jhansi ki rani. It depicts the tale of her struggle to protect her kingdom from the shackles of the British raj and eventually sacrificing her life fighting for the freedom of her country. A story that surely inspires you, Manikarnika is available for streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
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Kesari
Akshay Kumar starrer Kesari is a period-war film based on the Battle of Saragarhi that took place in 1897. The movie also features Parineeti Chopra, Vikram Singh Chauhan, Sarwar, Vansh Bhardwaj, Jaspreet Singh, Vivek Saini, Vikram Kochhar and Rakesh Sharma in pivotal roles. The film focuses on the events leading up to the events of the war that took place between the British army and the Sikh battalion of the Afghan tribesman. Though the film did not do well at the box office, it still tells a part of our Indian history which is worth watching. This one is available for viewing on YouTube.