Top 10 Bollywood Movies Based On Naxalites And Maoists
Posted On: 22 Feb 2024 | Last Updated : 23 Feb 2024 | Views : 2.6k
India’s Naxalist movement has always been a burning issue ever since we gained independence. Naxalites who are also known as Maoists are directly or indirectly victims of our so-called system who take up arms to fight for justice and are termed outlaws. Naxalism is a term that many might be familiar with but don’t know much about it and how it originated. The Naxal movement and Maoists are some of those offbeat topics that not many of our Bollywood filmmakers have brought on screen except for a handful of them who have done justice to this genre. Here is a list of some of the best Bollywood movies based on Naxalites, Maoists, and Communism.
1. The Naxalites (1980)
One of the first Bollywood films on Naxalism was director K.A. Abbas’s The Naxalites (1980), starring Mithun Chakraborty alongside Smita Patil, Dina Pathak and Jalal Agha. The film was based on the lives of Naxalites and their fight and struggle against the system. It showcased the Naxalite movement and how people join the movement from various walks of life, regions, backgrounds, and faiths, etc.
2. Andhi Gali (1984)
Writer and director Buddhadev Dasgupta’s Andhi Gali was another Bollywood movie based on Naxalism that was based on a Bengali story, ‘Ghar Bari’ by Dibyendu Palit. The film starring Deepti Naval, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Mahesh Bhatt was set against the backdrop of the Naxalite movement in Bengal in the 1970s.
3. Lal Salaam (2002)
Director Gaganvihari Borate’s lesser-known action-drama Lal Salaam (2002) features in the list of Bollywood movies based on Naxalism in Hindi. Starring Nandita Das, Sharad Kapoor, Vijay Raaz and Sayaji Shinde in the main cast, the film revolves around the life of Rupi (Nandita Das) who joins the Maoist group to seek revenge against the police for the brutality meted against the village tribes.
4. Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi (2005)
One of the much talked about Hindi films about Naxalism was Sudhir Mishra’s Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi starring Kay Kay Menon, Chitrangada Singh and Shiney Ahuja was set against the backdrop of the Indian Emergency and the Naxalite movement. The storyline was that of three young collegemates in the 1970s, who have different ideologies and choose respective professions amidst India’s massive social and political changing scenario.
5. Chamku (2008)
Though not that successful at the box office but Kabeer Kaushik’s Chamku can easily be rated among the top 10 Naxalite movies in India. The action thriller starring Bobby Deol, Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan, Riteish Deshmukh and Danny Denzongpa also dealt with the Indian Naxalite movement in Bihar. Bobby Deol played a RAW and Intelligence Bureau officer who to appointed to carry out political assassinations but a chance encounter entangles him in the world of crime once again.
6. Red Alert: The War Within (2010)
Probably, one of the best Bollywood movies based on Maoists was Red Alert: The War Within, directed by Ananth Mahadevan. Starring Suniel Shetty, Sameera Reddy, Ashish Vidyarthi, Vinod Khanna, Naseeruddin Shah, etc., the film was based on a true story of a poor tiffin-supplier, Narsimha (played by Suniel Shetty) who gets caught up in a conflict between cops and Naxalites and is forced to join a group of Naxalites due to poverty, thus showing the evolution of the people of the lowest rung of the social ladder into Naxalites.
7. Chakravyuh (2012)
Prakash Jha’s Chakravyuh arguably remains one of the best Bollywood movies based on Naxalism. Starring Arjun Rampal, Abhay Deol, Manoj Bajpayee, Esha Gupta and Om Puri, the film portrays the political war between the police and Maoists while addressing a very susceptible issue in an unbiased way. It showcases the harsh reality behind the Maoists and indirectly helps us sympathize with the Naxalites, who are portrayed as so-called criminals.
8. Newton (2017)
A black comedy drama and arguably one of the best movies on Naxalism was director Amit V. Masurkar’s Rajkummar Rao starrer Newton. The movie is about Nutan "Newton" Kumar (Rajkummar Rao), a rookie government clerk who is sent on election duty to a Naxal-controlled town in the insurgency-ridden jungles of Chhattisgarh, India. Despite the looming fear of guerrilla attacks by communist insurgents, he tries his best to conduct free and fair voting despite the odds stacked against him.
9. Lohardaga (2023)
Lohardaga is a new Bollywood movie based on Naxalism that went unnoticed when released in 2023. The storyline based on true events is set in the small town of Lohargada in Jharkhand state where many youngsters who fail to get a proper job are misled to join the Naxals (Maoist), only later to surrender to join the mainstream and get police jobs as promised under the scheme.
10. Bastar: The Naxal Story (2024)
Among the latest Bollywood movies based on Maoists and the Naxalite movement is director Sudipto Sen’s Adah Sharma-starrer, Bastar: The Naxal Story. The storyline is based on the real-life incidents of Naxals in the Chhattisgarh area who killed 75 CRPF personnel and one state police constable in Dantewada.
