This year, India marks 75 years of independence from British rule, with celebrations culminating on Independence Day on August 15. Here is a list of films, television series and documentaries that showcase important issues in the country.

1. The Great Indian Kitchen (2021): One of the few non-Hindi films to make waves all over India, this Malayali movie tells the story of a woman who struggles to fit into the role of a traditional wife after marriage. In an interview with the Indian media, director Jeo Baby said he deliberately wanted to create scenes that made men uncomfortable in their patriarchal roles. 
2. Jai Bhim (2021): Made in Tamil, "Jai Bhim" is a legal drama directed by T Gnanavel and featuring the Tamil superstar, Suriya. The movie highlights caste differences in India through the story of a tribal man who is accused of theft and arrested by the police. The film is the highest-rated movie on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and has featured on the Academy Awards' YouTube channel.
3. Sardar Udham (2021): Based on the life of Udham Singh, an Indian revolutionary in the 1910s, this new Amazon Prime series directed by Shoojit Sircar features actor Vicky Kaushal as the freedom fighter. Udham Singh witnessed the Jallianwalla massacre in 1919 when British soldiers gunned down thousands of peaceful protesters at a garden complex in Amritsar, Punjab. Singh assassinated Michael O'Dwyer, the British lieutenant governor of Punjab at the time.
4. India's Daughter (2015): Made by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin, the documentary traces the story of Nirbhaya, the 21-year-old who was gang-raped and killed in New Delhi in December 2012. The film was banned by the Indian government, which said statements by a convict Udwin had interviewed were derogatory to women.
    
5. Masaan (2015): Released in English as "Fly By Solo," the film is a heartbreaking love story about the struggle to overcome caste and class differences in Varanasi in northern India. The film won an award at the Cannes Film Festival in the "Un Certain Regard" category in 2015.
6. Inshallah Football (2010): a documentary for football lovers, "Inshallah Football” tells the story of a young Kashmiri football player who is denied a passport to play outside India because his father is a militant member of the Hizbul Mujahideen, a separatist group in India-administered Kashmir.
    
7. The Story of India (2009): This expansive documentary series made by Michael Wood for the BBC and PBS tells the story of India's 10,000-year-old history, right from the Indus Valley civilization to present-day politics and society.
8. Parzania (2007): Set amid the Gujarat riots, the film tells the story of Parzaan, a ten-year-old boy who lives in Ahmedabad with his family, who are followers of the Zoroastrian religion. Like many little kids his age, Parzaan lives in his own make-believe land, which he calls Parzania. However, when violence engulfs Ahmedabad, the boy ends up getting lost. Directed by Rahul Dholakia and featuring actors Naseruddin Shah and Sarika, the film is based on a true story and subtly highlights the complicity of Narendra Modi, who was the chief minister of Gujarat at the time, in the violence that killed over 2,000 people.
    
9. Rang de Basanti (2006): Directed by Bollywood filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and featuring actor Aamir Khan, "Rang de Basanti," Hindi for "Paint me the Color of Saffron," is a coming-of-age movie about five friends in modern-day Delhi facing up to India's colonial past and its troubled present.
Tracking down Gandhi through photographs
Wherever he was, Mahatma Gandhi fought for human rights. He led India non-violently into independence. Marking his 150th birthday, Anja Bohnhof pays tribute to the freedom fighter with her photographic insights.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
1893: Waiting room at Pietermaritzburg Station, Natal, South Africa
On June 7, 1893, shortly after his arrival in South Africa, Gandhi was thrown out of first class as a 'non-white' on the train journey from Durban to Pretoria. The night in the waiting room of the Pietermaritzburg train station was the turning point in his life. Gandhi transformed himself from a shy lawyer into an activist for the rights of the Indian minority in South Africa.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
1913: Community cell in the central prison of Pretoria, South Africa
Gandhi spent almost six years of his life in prisons in South Africa and India for civil disobedience. He used these times productively, studying and writing several texts within the prison walls. After his release from Pretoria prison on December 18, 1913, Gandhi set off for India and left South Africa for good.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
1917: Motihari Station, Purvi Champaran, Bihar, India
In 1917, Gandhi's "Champaran Campaign" led him to Bihar, which is still one of the poorest states in India. There, he supported small farmers in their struggle against the compulsory cultivation of indigo plants imposed by British landowners. After Gandhi's return from South Africa, this was the first of many non-violent actions on Indian soil.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
1917/18: Gandhi Adarsh Middle School, Bihar, India
While fighting for the rights of indigo farmers in Champaran, Gandhi also sought to develop the region by following his visions of Indian self-government. The school in the small village of Barharwa Lakhansen was one of the first he founded between 1917 and 1918 in this region. Gandhi wanted to fight illiteracy and boost people's self-esteem.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
1919: Navajivan Trust, Archive, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India
Early on, Gandhi relied on the power of the media: the weekly magazine Indian Opinion, which he published, was an important mouthpiece in the fight against discrimination against Indians in South Africa. In India, he began publishing Navajivan (New Life), a magazine written in his mother tongue Gujarati, as of 1919. More papers were published and mostly dealt with economic and social issues.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
1936: Sevagram Ashram, Wardha, Maharashtra, India
From 1936 to 1946, Gandhi lived in Sevagram Aschram near Wardha in central India. There, he received guests and political greats from all over the world. His former hut is almost in its original condition and testifies to Gandhi's simple lifestyle, which was reduced to the essentials. Gandhi's motto was: "My life is my message!"
Image: Anja Bohnhof
1927: Sodepur Ashram, Barrackpore, West Bengal, India
The Sodepur Ashram north of Kolkata was founded in 1921. Between 1927 and 1947, Gandhi stayed there for long periods and met with leading politicians. He left for Noakhali on November 6, 1946 to pacify raging riots between Muslims and Hindus, but the division of India could no longer be avoided.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
1946: Sadhurkhil Village, Noakhali, Chittagong District, Bangladesh
In November 1946, Gandhi traveled to Noakhali in what is now Bangladesh to end the cruel massacres in the area. This was due to the expected independence of India and the threatened division of the country into Muslim and Hindu territories. At the age of 77, Gandhi set out on a difficult peace march through the largely inaccessible region of the Ganges Delta.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
1948: Triveni Sangam, Uttar Pradesh, India
After his death on January 30, 1948, Gandhi's body was ceremonially burned in Delhi. Much of the ash was buried at the confluence of the Ganges with the Yamuna River and the mythical Sarasvati River. According to Hindu belief, the soul of a deceased person enters Nirvana directly here. Small amounts of ash were brought for worship to numerous cities and villages in India.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
2019: Five years tracking Gandhi
During her research for "Tracking Gandhi," the Dortmund photographer Anja Bohnhof also visited the Mahila ashram in India, where young women are educated and taught craft skills. Bohnhof's illustrated book draws a photographic portrait of the Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi. The National Gandhi Museum in New Delhi is displaying her works from October 15, 2019.
Image: Anja Bohnhof
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10. Gandhi (1982): Directed by Sir Richard Attenborough, "Gandhi" is a mainstay on any list of films about the Indian freedom struggle and the role of the Mahatma in India's history. Ben Kingsley portrays the figure of Gandhi from his days in South Africa, to his journey to India and his ideas of non-violence. Kingsley won the Oscar, the BAFTA and the Golden Globe awards in the best actor category for his acting.
    
    Edited by: Louisa Schaefer