Patriotism was their reality, not just a role on screen.
Bollywood has often recreated the struggles of India’s freedom movement on screen, with actors donning the roles of legendary revolutionaries and leaders. Audiences feel inspired watching these portrayals, yet what remains lesser known is that, long before these stories were dramatized, some actors themselves were part of the real fight. During the days of British rule, when the country’s call for independence spread across every street and village, a handful of Hindi film personalities stepped away from the arc lights and joined the movement. They used their influence, voice, and courage to contribute in ways both big and small, proving that their heroism wasn’t confined to the screen. In this article, we revisit those remarkable figures from Indian cinema who dared to rise beyond fame and artistry, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the freedom fighters who shaped the destiny of our nation.
When Prithviraj Kapoor founded Prithvi Theatres in the mid-1940s (accounts differ whether in 1942 or 1944), he imagined it as more than a troupe. The company travelled across British India, staging plays that reflected the concerns of ordinary people. Titles like 'Kisaan' (Farmer), 'Deewar' (Wall), and 'Pathan' spoke to questions of land, power, unity, dignity, self-rule, and more.
Audiences in small towns, many encountering live theatre for the first time, heard in these productions a call to self-respect and collective strength. Later theatre histories describe Prithvi’s productions as part of a cultural front aligned with nationalist feeling. There is no clear archival record of Kapoor being arrested or tried for agitation, but his influence lay in the way he turned the stage into a moving classroom for civic pride.
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And as he moved between screen and stage, Kapoor carried his cinematic prestige into the theatre tent. His troupe made nationalist allegories accessible to people who might never have read a political tract.
Before Balraj Sahni became one of Hindi cinema’s most respected actors, he was already steeped in politics and pedagogy. In the late 1930s, he spent time at Gandhi’s Sevagram ashram, where his dedication drew Gandhi’s notice. Soon after, Gandhi recommended him for work at the BBC’s Hindi service in London, a posting that broadened his worldview.
Back in India, Sahni became central to the IPTA, bringing his talent to socially charged plays and early films such as 'Dharti Ke Lal'. Memoirs and retrospective press accounts sometimes mention that he was jailed for “revolutionary thinking” in the late 1940s, though primary police records confirming this remain elusive. What is clear from his brother Bhisham Sahni’s writings and IPTA’s own documents is that he was a vigorous cultural activist.
May 1 , 1913 :: Actor Balraj Sahni Was Born In Rawalpindi pic.twitter.com/ypijoWrQMI
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This background shaped his career. Sahni gravitated toward realist cinema (with stories of peasants, labourers, and the poor) and roles that reflected the causes he had once championed on stage.
Ashok Kumar never joined an organisation like IPTA, nor was he known for political meetings. His contribution came from within the frame of commercial cinema. In 1943, 'Kismet' became a runaway success. Hidden inside its musical score was a song that began, “Door hato ae duniya walon, Hindustan hamara hai.” To British censors, the lyrics appeared as a generic wartime rebuke of Axis powers. And to Indian audiences, the line rang unmistakably as a declaration of ownership that Hindustan is ours.
And that one refrain turned cinema halls into surreptitious rally grounds. People sang it in the streets, whistled it in bazaars, and repeated it in private gatherings. Kumar, by sheer force of stardom, lent the nationalist mood a voice that escaped suppression. He did not march in protests, but his films showed how popular culture could serve as a vessel for sentiment too dangerous to shout openly.
If Prithviraj Kapoor and Balraj Sahni carried the nationalist current through theatre, and Ashok Kumar gave it an anthem on screen, Devika Rani shaped it from behind the studio gates. With her husband Himanshu Rai, she co-founded Bombay Talkies in 1934, at a time when Indian cinema was still defining itself.
Under her leadership, the studio turned out films that embraced reformist themes. 'Achhut Kanya' tackled untouchability, placing caste prejudice squarely on the silver screen. While Devika Rani did not stand on protest podiums or risk jail, her decision to finance and act in such work mirrored the moral agenda of the independence movement. She treated cinema as social education, bringing ideas of reform to audiences who might otherwise resist sermons.
As both actress and studio head, she gave cultural legitimacy to the notion that cinema could be a tool of national self-examination.
