Fables of patriotism sent cash registers ringing at the Bollywood boulevard as India celebrated its 60th Independence Day, with nationalism getting a reel life makeover with Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chak De! India.

The film, released on August 17 may be one among many Hindi films espousing nationalism but the Yash Raj Films  production redefines reel patriotism without stroking hatred for another nation.

And unlike a zillion Hindi films where women play non-consequential roles while the male lead forges ahead and saves the pride of the nation, in Chak De India the country relies on a gaggle of 17 girls to save the day and bring home the World Hockey Championship.

Last year itself the same banner had released Fanaa about romance between a blind Kashmiri girl, essayed by Kajol, and Aamir Khan as a Pakistan-backed terrorist masquerading as tourist guide.

The film ended with Kajol taking the life of her country’s traitor. The film, however, was not projected as a story of a patriotic woman.

Bollywood has always reflected the times. Before Fanaa hit the marquees, Aamir was seen in Rang De Basanti in which a group of young men justify using violence to rid the country of a corrupt leader.

However, this was not Aamir’s first patriotic role.

He had played a pre-independence villager in Lagaan, who beat the Brits at cricket, and a patriotic cop in an earlier hit Sarfarosh.

The same goes for Shah Rukh. Before donning the hat of a former disgraced Indian hockey team captain-turned-coach of an Indian women’s hockey team on a mission in Chak De! India, he has played an NRI in Swades, who comes back to India to work with poor villagers.

That’s perhaps why Rajkumar Santoshi’s out-of-history-books Legend of Bhagat Singh did not do half as well as Rang De Basanti, which used the same legend to galvanise today’s apathetic youth to action.

Ditto with John Mathew Mathan’s 2005 release, Shikhar.

The film that espoused the Gandhian cause sank without a trace while Munnabhai M.B.B.S. and Lage Raho Munnabhai have become cult faves.

Far from the fear of Western culture gobbling up Indians as in yesteryears’ feature film Purab Aur Paschim, it is evident that anything Indian is piping hot internationally.

Colonisation of the west by Indian culture is evident and Hindi films are capitalizing.

The independence day movies also saw actor Salman Khan romancing a Hollywood starlet in an Indo-US co-production Marigold.

Marigold is India’s first big-budget true-blue co-production between Hollywood and Bollywood.

The film marks the coming together of Adlabs Films Ltd and Becker Films International.

Directed by Hollywood’s Willard Carroll, known for his Sean Connery and Angelina Jolie starrer “Playing By Heart”, the film features Salman opposite American actor Ali Larter, known for her work in Final Destination.

“Marigold was my way of bridging the gap between Indian and American cinema.

“My assumption is that people in America don’t know what Bollywood is.

In Marigold, they’ll be seeing it through an American’s eyes,” Carroll was quoted as saying.

As India turned 60, the Indo-US co-production was viewed as a sign of even better times to come and a reaffirmation of Bollywood’s growing international clout.