1 Sangam (1964)
Sangam's main character was a pilot, as actor-director Raj Kapoor played Sunder Khanna, a flight lieutenant in the IAF who is assumed to be dead while on a dangerous mission in enemy territory. Kapoor's first film in colour showed off an Air Force base and its fleet in Pune, Maharashtra.
2 Lalkar (1972)
Director Ramanand Sagar's war film brought Rajendra Kumar and Dharmendra as brothers Rajan and Ram who join the air force and the army respectively. They join the fight to keep out the Japanese from the border of Burma during WWII. Wing Commander Rajan is taken as a prisoner of war (POW) during one of his assignments to bomb a Japanese airstrip.
3 Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973)
Chetan Anand's second undertaking in the war genre focused on the aerial action during the 1971 conflict with Pakistan and included Raaj Kumar playing the Squadron Leader Rajiv Shukla. Hindustan Ki Kasam incorporated actual Suk hoi, Sabers, MiG 21, Gnats, Hunters that were used in Operation Cactus Lilly during the Indo-Pak war.
4 Vijeta (1982)
Directed by Govind Nihalani, Vijeta took viewers through the realistic journey of a young MiG-21 fighter pilot, Angad Singh, played by Kunal Kapoor in his film debut. Also set against the backdrop of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, Vijeta released 50 years after the IAF was established.
5 Border (1997)
This partly fictionalised retelling of the Longewala battle from the 1971 Indo-Pak war caused much controversy amongst the armed forces after it was released. Jackie Shroff played Wing Commander Andy Bajwa, another MiG-21 fighter pilot who leads the new air base in Jaisalmer and comes to the aid of the 23rd Battalion Punjab Regiment at Longewala.
6 Agni Pankh (2004)
Starring Jimmy Shergill, Rahul Dev and Divya Dutta, this oft neglected film focused entirely on young pilots stationed at Srinagar Air Base during the events leading up to the Kargil war. There's not much focus on the skies as two pilots are seized and held at a prisoner of war (POW) camp where they plan a deadly escape with the Pakistani rangers hot on their heels.
7 Veer-Zaara (2004)
In Yash Chopra's Veer-Zaara, Shah Rukh Khan is Squadron Leader Veer Pratap Singh who is trained specially as a rescue pilot in the Indian Air Force. Primarily a love story, Khan spends much of the film languishing in a Pakistani jail, wrongly imprisoned as a spy for India.
8 Rang De Basanti (2006)
The protagonists of Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s Rang De Basanti looked to India's past and its freedom fighters to bring justice to their fallen friend. The film initially fielded controversy when poor manufacturing conditions of the MiGs used by the IAF pilots which caused led to their deaths was highlighted in the script. Eventually, the top brass found nothing derogatory towards the Indian Air Force.
9 Mausam (2011)
Pankaj Kapur's directorial debut had to change a 30 second flying sequence as the IAF deemed it too unrealistic according to their standards. In the film, Shahid Kapoor plays Squadron Leader Harinder Singh who fights in the Kargil war.