Theater: Border (1997)
Movies | DestinyKuri | December 14, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Border is a 1997 blockbuster Bollywood war film based on the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. J. P. Dutta directed and produced this war epic which stars Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Sunil Shetty, Akshay Khanna, Pooja Bhatt, Sharbani Mukherjee and Tabu.Director J.P. Dutta won Best Director at the same award function, while his father O.P. Dutta won for Best Dialogues.The movie is an adaptation from real life events that happened at the Battle of Longewala fought in Rajasthan (Western Theatre) during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and Bangladesh Liberation War. It is about how a band of 120 soldiers of the Punjab regiment of the Indian Army headed by Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri successfully defended their post all night against a whole Tank regiment of the Pakistani Army, until assistance came from the Indian Air Force the next morning. The film was a critical and commercial hit in India.
The film opens before the actual declaration of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 as army Maj Kuldip Singh Chandpuri and airforce Wing Com Anand Bajwa meet on a courier flight and speak about the possibility of opening of the Western front in light of the East Pakistan conflict. Kuldip takes up command of A Coy of the 23rd Punjab Bn arguing the light defence being assigned to Longewala. He meets his second in command Lt Dharamvir Bhan (who happens to be the son of a 1965 war veteran who was killed during that war) and the Coy NCO Subedar Mathura Das. The company moves to the remote outpost in the deserts of Rajasthan and begins to expand the rudimentary BSF post and does a recce of the area up to the international border with Pakistan. They meet the post’s BSF commandant Bhairon Singh, a deeply patriotic man who loves the desert. During a night patrol Kuldip, Lt Dharamvir and Bhairon Singh come across a suspicious bunch of locals who turn out to be insurgents. The trio get into a brief firefight killing all but one of the insurgents when Dharamvir hesitates to shoot one of the insurgents. Kuldip severely derides him and shoots the insurgent himself, prompting Dharamvir to vomit. A badly shaken Dharamvir is comforted by Bhairon Singh and the two reminisce about their personal lives. Dharamvir recounts how he met his fiancee Kamla, a lively young girl from his native village who he had fallen for and how he got his mobilization orders on the day of his engagement to Kamla. Bhairon Singh recounts his wedding night, his first night with his bride, when he was called back to post and how he bids a tearful goodbye to his beautiful wife Phool Kanwar. The unit is joined by the charismatic Subedar Ratan Singh, a man of insatiable appetite and wit, with 2 106mm jeep mounted RCL guns to serve as an anti-armour unit. The company wireless operator picks up a spy transmitting from a nearby area and Dharamvir sets out to investigate. He ambushes the spy and kills the man, bringing the body back to the post to prove that he is over his fear of killing another person.
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