Amazon and Dharmatic Entertainment Pvt. Ltd.’s Ae Watan Mere Watan is the story of freedom fighter Usha Mehta, an unsung hero of the Indian freedom movement in general and the Quit India movement in particular.
Darab Farooqui and Kannan Iyer have written a story about the freedom struggle and Usha Mehta’s contribution in propagating the plans of the Congress party so that they reach the maximum number of Indians. The story is very limited in the overall scheme of the Indian freedom struggle and, therefore, it doesn’t have much appeal. Besides, the patriotic flavour is so little that it hardly evokes those sentiments in the viewers. Darab Farooqui’s screenplay is not very engaging as it lacks depth. Besides the absence of the patriotic sentiments, the drama also has a lack of emotions of the general kind. Also, the contribution of Usha Mehta comes across as too insignificant in the overall fight for independence. Therefore, the seriousness of the drama never really builds up so much that the viewers would sit upright, with cent per cent attentiveness, and watch the drama unfold. There are scenes which hardly shock the audience even though the characters (like Usha Mehta) are shown to react as if they would die of shock. Even Darab Farooqui’s dialogues are ordinary and hardly touch the heart strings of the audience.
Sara Ali Khan does not act too well as Usha Mehta. Besides, her performance doesn’t have the desired impact, partly because of the insipid script and partly because the viewers may not take her seriously in such a role, given her glamorous image. Abhay Verma is good-looking and does well as Kaushik. Sparsh Shrivastava shines in the role of Fahad. Emraan Hashmi is effective as Ram Manohar Lohia. Sachin Khedekar is natural in the role of the judge. Alexx O’Nell makes his presence felt as John Lyre. Anand Tiwari makes a fine mark as the engineer. Sangram Salvi has his moments as Kamat. Nancy R. Makwana is endearing as young Usha. Madhu Raja performs ably as Usha’s grandmother. Uday Chandra is okay as Gandhi. Annuop Chaudhari (as Gaonkar), Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Patil (as Tambe), Rajan Tejraj Tiwari (as the teacher), Ira Dua (as Sandhya), Aditi Sanwal (as Antara), Godaan Kumar (as Balbir), Pratik Yadav (as Bhaskar), Chrisann Pereira (as Julie), Richard Bhakti Klein (as the viceroy), and the others are adequate.
Kannan Iyer’s direction is so-so. Music (Akashdeep Sengupta, Shashi Suman, Mukund Suryawanshi) is okay. Lyrics (Darab Farooqui, Prashant Ingole, Ravi Girri, Rohan Deshmukh) are fair. Savio Barnes’ choreography is average. Utkarsh Dhotekar’s background music is alright. Amalendu Chaudhary’s cinematography is of a good standard. Vikram Dahiya’s action and stunt scenes afford some thrill. Production designing (by Amrita Mahal Nakai and Sabrina Singh) and art direction (by Pranay Chaure) are average. Sangeeth Varghese’s editing is reasonably sharp but could’ve been crisper.
On the whole, Ae Watan Mere Watan is too ordinary to make a mark.
Released on 21-3-’24 on Amazon Prime.