Shaheed (1948)

Ram grows up in the household of a father who serves the colonial government faithfully and expects his son to do the same. But Ram is drawn to the freedom movement, and as he commits himself to the struggle he is forced to choose between his family's comfort and his country, while the woman he loves waits and hopes. Released in 1948, months after Independence, Shaheed caught the mood of the moment and was a major hit, one of the films that made Dilip Kumar a star. Ghulam Haider's score includes Watan Ki Raah Mein Watan Ke Naujawan Shaheed Ho, which has remained one of the best-known patriotic songs in Hindi. The film is a landmark of the freedom-struggle cinema of the late 1940s.