[5][6] In contemporary usage, the word Hindustan generally refers to the modern country of India since 1947.
This combined with the Avestan suffix -stān (cognate to Sanskrit "sthān", both meaning "place")[8] results in Hindustan, as the land on the other side (from Persia) of the Indus.
[10] The slogan's popular usage in recent times is likely to be credited to the film Gadar: Ek Prem Katha.
The film tells the story of a Sikh man named Tara Singh (Sunny Deol), who falls in love with a Muslim woman named Sakina Ali (Ameesha Patel) during partition of India.
However, Sakina's father disapproved of the marriage, primarily due to religious and national differences, but allowed the marriage to continue under the condition that Singh converts to Islam and shouts हिंदुस्तान मुर्दाबाद Hindustan Murdabad (death to India) in full view of hundreds of witnesses in Pakistan; instead of following the latter, Singh defiantly proclaims Hindustan Zindabad and then uproots a hand pump and kills a few locals belonging to an attacking mob enraged from his remarks.