Ae Watan Mere Watan is based on the life of Usha Mehta, who was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi to join the freedom struggle. She took active part in the Quit India Movement in 1942. When most of the senior leaders of Congress were arrested, she helped run a secret Congress Radio for three months, keeping the spirit of the movement alive. Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia broadcasted his speeches from the radio and records of other leaders, like Gandhi, Nehru and Maulana Azad were also played on the radio. She was captured and tortured by the British and even sentenced to three years in jail. She had embraced celibacy at a young age and never got involved in active politics after India’s Independence. Later, she did doctoral studies in Gandhian philosophy and became a professor at her Wilson College. While she isn’t a luminary, she’s still counted as an important freedom fighter.

One would have loved to see the inner life of Usha Mehta being brought out in the film. It’s not clear why she was attracted towards Gandhiji and what led her towards celibacy. She’s shown to have rebelled against her father, who was a judge during the British era and is seen leaving home to fight against the British. But we’re not told how she survived on her own without any money or support. One has to keep in mind that during the 1940s, people were more conservative and it would have been really difficult for a single girl to survive on her own in Bombay. Her progression as an independent woman, free of societal norms, would have made an interesting study but the writers and the director chose to ignore that point. The internal struggles of the main, as well as ancillary characters are absent. Some scenes from the film remind you of a school play. There’s much enthusiasm in the proceedings but there’s also an absence of finesse. Sara Ali Khan’s confrontation scenes with her father, played by Sachin Khedekar, look like an acting exercise.

The film picks up upon the entry of Emraan Hashmi, who plays Ram Manohar Lohia. He plays Lohia with a certain nuance which is absent from the performance of others. You feel as if you’re actually watching a dedicated freedom fighter at work. He’s the best thing about the film and one can see that being free from the burden of playing the lead has done wonders for him. The film rests on the fragile shoulders of Sara Ali Khan and she doesn’t find it easy going. One can see she’s struggling to find a connection with the character she’s portraying. Her earnestness, her intensity can’t be denied however and she gamely ploughs on, despite the hurdles.

While it’s a laudable thing to make a film about lesser-known freedom fighters, more care should have been taken to round off the script. The production design and the VFX combine to give us old Bombay. Cinematography by Amalendu Chaudhary is also first rate. One of Usha Mehta’s nephews is director Ketan Mehta. We wonder why the noted filmmaker wasn’t approached to make a film on his aunt.

Watch Ae Watan Mere Watan to know a little more about a little-known chapter in India’s freedom struggle.

Shooting broke out at a large concert hall near Moscow on Friday, Russian news agencies quoted emergency services as saying.

RIA news agency said at least three people in camouflage clothing had opened fire at the Crocus City Hall, and that some people had been wounded.

Police had arrived at the scene, RIA said.

Video footage published on Russian social media channels showed chaotic scenes, with a large crowd of concertgoers attempting to flee the hall, followed by gunshots.

Other video footage showed a number of people lying motionless in pools of blood outside the hall.

Reuters was unable immediately to verify the footage.

TASS news agency reported an explosion and a fire in the building where the shooting took place.

The Kommersant newspaper posted footage online showing smoke billowing from what it said was the concert venue building.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kate, Britain’s Princess of Wales, said on Friday she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy after tests taken following major abdominal surgery in January revealed cancer had been present.

Kate, 42, the wife of heir-to-the-throne Prince William, spent two weeks in hospital in January after having what her office said at the time was successful, planned surgery for a non-cancerous but unspecified condition.

However, in a video message, Kate said subsequent tests had revealed cancer had been found, but she said she was well and getting stronger.

“My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventative chemotherapy and I am now in the early stages of that treatment,” Kate said in the video which was filmed on Wednesday.

“This of course came as a huge shock, and William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family.”

King Charles revealed in February that he too was to have treatment for cancer, meaning he has had to postpone his public royal duties.

Her office, Kensington Palace, said it would give no further details about the type of cancer. It said she was on a recovery pathway and the preventative chemotherapy had begun in February.

After her operation, the palace said Kate would not return to official duties until after Easter, but her absence from public life has provoked intense speculation on social media.

She and William had wanted privacy about the cancer until their children, Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5, began their school holidays which started on Friday.

“It has taken me time to recover from major surgery in order to start my treatment. But, most importantly, it has taken us time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that is appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I am going to be ok,” she said.

“As I have said to them; I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal; in my mind, body and spirits.”

Kate has not appeared at a public event since she joined other members of the royal family for a church service on Christmas Day.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)