Mumbai: India has suddenly turned patriotic. Well, at least inside the movie theatres as films with a nationalistic flavour have been dominating the box office since the past few weeks.

Going by the box office figures, Uri: The Surgical Strike is performing beyond expectations, while late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray’s biopic and Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi are enjoying an impressive opening.

Uri: The Surgical Strike

The Aditya Dhar directorial chronicles the story of the surgical strike conducted by the Indian Army in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir in response to terror attacks in Kashmir’s Uri in September 2016. The film has become the first big hit of 2019 and within 18 days of its release, it has managed to garner a whopping 160.78 crores! This is also Vicky Kaushal’s most successful film after Sanju and Raazi last year, who is presently one of the most sought-after youngsters in the industry. The film also stars Paresh Rawal, Mohit Raina and Yami Gautam in key roles.  

Thackeray

The Nawazuddin Siddiqui starrer biopic of late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray has been directed by Abhijit Panse. The film has opened to rave reviews, especially Nawazuddin Siddiqui’s performance, who nails every character he plays with his remarkable acting skills. The film which released last week has collected Rs 22.90 over the opening weekend. Thackeray, which deals with the life of one of the greatest political leaders of Maharashtra, also stars Amrita Rao in the role of Balasaheb’s wife Meena Tai Thackeray.

Also read: Thackeray trailer is a molotov cocktail, Nawazuddin Siddiqui the spark

Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi

Expectations were high from the makers of the movie which tells the story of India’s first warrior queen, Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi. Even though the film went through delays due to director Krish and actor Sonu Sood walking out midway allegedly due to differences with Kangana Ranaut and the latter taking over as the director, but nothing seems to have affected Manikarnika’s performance, which is running like a racehorse at the box office. Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi has collected 47.65 crores in its first four days and is expected to enter the 100-crore-club soon. The period drama also stars Jisshu Sengupta and Ankita Lokhande among others.  

If you loved the above films, we’d like to inform you that some more are coming your way this year. These include Akshay Kumar’s Kesari and Mission Mangal, Ajay Devgn’s Taanaji – The Unsung War Hero and Ashutosh Gowariker’s Panipat.