The tie that binds: On Raksha Bandhan, here are the movies that celebrate sibling love

No buddy better than a brother, no friend better than a sister. It’s that time of the year when we celebrate Raksha Bandhan, the tie that binds. This relationship between siblings has been portrayed differently over the years in the movies. Dev Anand went looking for his lost sister in Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Amitabh Bachchan tried to safeguard his sister’s future in Majboor and Juhi Chawla fought for the rights of her sibling in My Brother Nikhil.

As the world celebrates this day of sibling revelry, we look back at some of the best brother-sister pairings in recent years.

Iqbal, 2005

Director: Nagesh Kukunoor

This little gem of a film is about a deaf-and-mute boy who has only one dream: to be a part of the Indian cricket team. Apart from his mother, there’s one person who believes in him whole-heartedly.

Shreyas Talpade’s Iqbal and Shweta Prasad’s Khadija stand side-by-side, facing all the problems the world throws at them together. She may be the younger one, but she seems to be the elder sibling when it comes to nurturing his dream. And when Iqbal does make it big, there’s no one cheering louder than his younger sister.

Agneepath, 2012

Director: Karan Malhotra

The reinvention of Amitabh Bachchan’s 1990 film completely made over the brother-sister relationship. The new Vijay Deenanath Chauhan, played by Hrithik Roshan, gets separated from his mother and sister as a child. He begins work for an underworld don dealing in women’s trafficking and drugs, but is always working towards a rapprochement with his sister.

Remember the awfully emotional Ab Mujh Me Kahin? When his sister lands in the don’s hands, the angry young man goes for him and everything else that may harm his young sister.

Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na, 2008

Director: Abbas Tyrewala

The movie that made teen heartthrobs out of Imraan Khan and Genelia D’Souza – we think the chartbusting tunes also played a hand – also had some amazing sibling chemistry. D’Souza’s Aditi Mohant loves her brother, Amit (Prateik Babbar), who’s not your regular kind of guy. They bicker like only siblings can but he’s the only one to tell her off when she gets embroiled in a relationship that spells trouble. That’s when she returns to Khan’s Jai Singh Rathore and gives this love story a happy ending.

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Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, 2013

Director: Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra

On one level, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag is the story of India's Olympian and national champion runner. On another, it also showcases the relationship between Farhan Akhtar’s Milkha and his elder sister Isri Kaur (Divya Dutta). His past, we learn, has a huge bearing on Milkha becoming the Flying Sikh.

There’s a reason why he runs so fast; his parents were killed in a Pakistani village during the events of 1947 and his father’s last words to him were Bhaag Milkha Bhaag.

Fiza, 2000

Director: Khalid Mohammed

Set against the backdrop of riots in Mumbai, Fiza shines the spotlight on the brother-sister bond.

The two siblings, Fiza, played by Karisma Kapoor, and Aman, Hrithik Roshan, share a powerful bond. But things go wrong one day and Aman disappears. Tired of waiting for his return, Fiza launches her own search and goes hunting to bring her brother back home. But she finds that he’s now allied with terrorists and can’t get out of their web even if he wants to. In the end, Fiza does what no sister would want to in an effort to give her beloved brother an honourable end.