The first look of Ae Watan Mere Watan, a thriller drama inspired by Usha Mehta’s story has been released ahead of the 74th Republic Day.

The film is directed by Kannan Iyer and written jointly by Darab Farooqui and Kannan Iyer and is a Dharmatic Entertainment Production.

Sara Ali Khan is set to essay the character of a valiant freedom fighter Usha Mehta, a young woman from Bombay.

Here is her story.

Born on 25 March 1920 in Saras, near Surat, Gujarat, Usha grew up witnessing India’s freedom struggle.

She participated in camps organised by Gandhi and adopted the Gandhian lifestyle of wearing clothes made from khadi.

With a first-class graduation in philosophy, Usha was always intent on doing something for her country.

So when the Quit India Movement was launched on 9 August 1942, she told her father that her education would have to wait, and left home.

For a fortnight, there was no knowledge of her whereabouts.

But one day, the words “This is the Congress radio calling on [a wavelength of] 42.34 metres from somewhere in India,” echoed through the country.

Usha had set up a secret radio station along with her associates Vithalbhai Jhaveri, Chandrakant Jhaveri, Babubhai Thakkar and Nanka Motwani.

The radio would broadcast messages from Gandhi and other prominent leaders across the country.

The sound waves from this underground station united the people, gave them hope and strength, and urged them to continue the protest.

Ushaben and her associates took care to move the location of the station almost daily, never transmitting from the same place, thereby avoiding detection by the authorities.

Congress Radio functioned for just about 88 days, during three occasions — with its first broadcast on 27 August 1942; between February and March 1943; and for a week during January 1944.

In 1998, the Government of India awarded Dr Usha Mehta with the Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second-highest civilian award.

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