Hate Bollywood for not making these war movies

[Sakal Gharelu Ustad]

The year was 2001 and two movies were fighting against each other for setting the industry on fire. It was Gadar: Ek Prem Katha vs Lagaan. At the end of the day Gadar starring Sunny Deol beat Aamir’s Lagaan hands down in the box-office profits as Gadar smashed all the records of that time and sold more tickets than all other movies except Sholay in the history of Indian cinema. Sunny Deol’s macho performance against barbaric Pakistanis probably sealed the deal in Gadar’s favour as Indian audience preferred it over Aamir Khan’s character of slow cricketer in Lagaan.

The success of Gadar should have given the Indian movie industry a good template to generate profits by kicking the ass of Pakistanis, which they more than deserve and which has historically been proved in all wars post independence. But this template has hardly been used post Gadar as Bollywood is more than happy importing Pakistani artists and doing “Aman ka Tamasha”. This sell-out of Bollywood essentially means that they have chosen to close their eyes to all Indian achievements in the past 70 years. Not only they have ignored the past 70 years but there are hardly any movies on our freedom struggle. Given this utter neglect of our history, it hardly surprises that students in JNU can get brainwashed and chant “Bharat ki barbadi tak” slogans, thus disrespecting the spirit of our forefathers who laid their lives for our better future.

Why Bollywood, which always want to portray itself as national cinema and ignore local industry, has failed to represent this nation of 1.2 Billion people? Why is it impossible for it to produce anything which reflects Indian cultural and military superiority? Bollywood is more than happy to copy Hollywood trash, but why does it not learn from it and produce movies to respect our war veterans? It is hard to imagine that Indians would not cherish to watch another movie like “Border” but based on historical events/stories. Sadly, Bollywood prefers to glorify Jihadis in movies like Haider and act as fifth column of ISI in creating propaganda against the Indian state. Think about it, would you prefer Tara Singh from Gadar to go and beat the hell out of all Pakistanis to get back his girl or a Hindu bashing PK, who wants to tell all Pakistani guys are awesome and Indians should happily donate their women to them? It will take another article to explain these failures of Bollywood, so let’s go back to the list of movies that Bollywood never produced.

1. Indo-Pak war (1971)

It is surprising that Indians have failed so miserably to cover this glorious display of courage and capability of the Indian Armed forces. It broke the back of Pakistan completely and forced it to abandon the idea of direct military confrontation against India. Let’s look at the themes one can explore on this war.

1. Genocide of Bangladeshi Hindus: If Schindler’s list can be used by Jews for propaganda, no better way to project plight of Hindus during this war. A movie on this genocide will completely tar Pakistani reputation forever and represent them for what they are i.e. barbarians.
2. International power play: This war was fought under great international pressure where Indira Gandhi was called bad names by Americans for her courage. Not only India superbly managed international pressure, it managed to create Bangladesh over coming all these odds. Is there a better way to portray “Nari Shakti” of India when US is struggling to elect a female President?
3. War theatre: This is such a rich topic to explore. The Indian Army achieved its objectives in such a short period of time and captured 90,000 POW that it is a tragedy that no one ever tried to put it on silver screen. Operation Trident by Indian Navy where they destroyed the Karachi harbour and caused massive damage to Pak capability will make such an amazing thriller. The extreme finesse with which India achieved its objectives should be a textbook case of how to conduct military operations. Hear this song from “Border” to understand what our soldiers sacrifice every time they leave their family members for our safety.

2. Indo-Pak war(1965)

This was another glorious war effort by Indian soldiers. In the aftermath of defeat against the Chinese in 1962, this war was a huge adrenaline boost for a poor and lost country trying to rediscover its strength.

1. Genius of PM Shastri: Pakistanis always thought that Indian is a country of banias and ruled by a nobody called Shastri. But Lal Bahadur Shastri showed his true metal and proved his name Bahadur beyond doubt when he gave orders to march into Punjab to ease pressure on J&K. Don’t you want to hear the stories of the simple guy who became our PM and gave the war cry- “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan“!!! His death in Tashkent would make another great story and debate to explore.
2. Battle of Assal Uttar: This was the battle of battles in this war where Indians won by sheer courage and tactics against a much better armed enemy. It was the biggest tank battle post World War-2 and Indians were not only out-numbered but also had old Centurian tanks from WW2, while Pak marched with the new Patton tanks supplied by US. This battle settled the debate that 1 Pakistani Muslim=10 Hindu banias once and for all as Pakistan never regained its confidence after this battle.

3. Kargil war(1999)

This was the first war where Indians saw some action directly broadcasted on their TV sets at home. Few movies were made in the immediate aftermath of this war but since then everyone has forgotten it.

1. Lahore bus backstab: PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee went with a huge fanfare to Lahore on a bus to create permanent peace between two hostile nations. What did he get in return? He got backstabbed by General Musharraf who planned Kargil war while Vajpayee was eating biryani with Nawaz Sharif, then PM of Pakistan. This story needs to be told again and again to hammer the lesson into Indian heads- Don’t trust Pak!
2. Mountain warfare: Which other country can boast that they have wrestled back peaks at more than 5000 m by sheer bravery and love for the nation of its soldiers. Not only our soldiers faced the uphill battle in literal sense of the word, but also had to engage in fist fights to finally over power the enemy. We all will like to hear the story of Captain Vikram Batra, “ye dil maange more” guy, on big screen. Watch this sequence from Lakshya to understand what we are missing:

4. Siachen Glacier

When we are talking about mountain warfare, how can we forget about Siachen Glacier. Ask any mountaineer their love for mountains and whether they would like to visit the largest the glacier in the world called Siachen. You would not hear a single-No. But ask our soldiers who live there night and day and they will explain you that it is not a pleasant experience in any way. So why do they live there- for strength and glory of India!!

1. The history: Learn about the great spy games on how this area became disputed when Indians discovered that Pakis were buying low temperature clothing and boots in large numbers on the western markets in 1987 and decided to outsmart them to capture the highest ridges on the glacier.
2. Operation Rajiv: You can only imagine the nail biting fight of our soldiers under freezing cold conditions. This story should be told again and again to understand the sacrifices of our jawans day in and day out. Isn’t it surprising that no one has tried to made a movie on the Param Vir Chakra winner, the legendary Bana Singh, who captured the highest post(6,447 m) on this glacier, which was later renamed in his honour as Bana Top?
3. War against nature: Indian soldiers hardly care for the weak Pakistanis any more on this glacier. Their biggest enemy is the freezing cold and uncertainty of the glacier. We want to hear their true stories and feel proud of our guys of steel. We want to hear how our helicopter pilots fight odds against death in every sortie they make over the glacier. We want to know how our bravehearts manage to live on such heights with loss of appetite and vision. Read this story to understand what we should be told every day.

5. Indo-China war(1962)

Great nations not only remember their success stories, but what sets them apart is their appetite to hear about their failures. This war which India lost due to the follies of its leaders should serve as a reminder again and again.

1. Nehru’s blunders: How India and China went from being best buddies chanting “Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai” to the worst of enemies should be a classic text book story to tell our kids. The role of Nehru and V.K. Krishna Menon in ensuring India’s defeat should be looked at from a fresh perspective. How countries from NAM failed to give their support to India should be another lesson in diplomacy.
2. Brave hearts: This was one war where our soldiers were heavily outnumbered as well as under equipped. But what a fight they put against all such odds. PVC winner Major Shaitan Singh still lives among the memories of soldiers serving around the Chushul area. Old Bollywood did much better in waking up the spirit of a defeated nation by producing “Haqeeqat“. Listen the song below to realize the chill it sends down your spine and what we should try to recreate as popular narrative.

Just reading this piece will fill you up with emotions for our brave soldiers, so you can easily imagine what movies on above mentioned topics can do for the nation. Also, there is no better way to pay homage to our dead soldiers by celebrating and remembering them through popular culture. You too will hate Bollywood now for failing to give Indians a chance to celebrate their unity and courage. But this cannot go on forever and we need to make our voices heard to bring this change in our movie industry. So trend #anti-national Bollywood to take this message further.

Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan

Read oiriginal article here: http://yugaparivartan.com/2016/04/18/hate-bollywood-for-not-making-these-war-movies/

 

[HariPrasad-1]

I would like Gurkhas cutting Porki heads filmed in Kargil war.

 

[Kshatriya87]

Here's my list for starters,

1. Mahabharata - This war can be made so legendary that even lord of the rings war will not match up to it.

2. Ramayana - With modern effects & animations, this would be mind blowing to watch.

3. Battle of Pawankhind - Marathas vs Mughals. Our original Indian version of "300". And guess what, its not fake.

There are many other wars to add. But I'll stop here.

 

[HeinzGud]

I would like someone make a movie about 1996 World Cup. Not because we won it but because it is a ultimate story of a underdog. Full of drama in the backdrop of South Asian unity.

 

[3deffect]

i like that movie if bollywood make on kashmir Algaavwaadi (how they Trying to destabilize kashmir) Against india..and how much pak role inside it..

and i would like it if bollywood make a movie on Kargil.how india defeat pak soilder (i mean some terrorist according to pak) on kargil..and how pakistan left their own soilder on height of kargils

S - i just want this as a movie..nothing more..

 

[Kshatriya87]

i like that movie if bollywood make on kashmir Algaavwaadi (how they Trying to destabilize kashmir) Against india..and how much pak role inside it..

and i would like it if bollywood make a movie on Kargil.how india defeat pak soilder (i mean some terrorist according to pak) on kargil..and how pakistan left their own soilder on height of kargils

S - i just want this as a movie..nothing more..

They will never do that. Bollywood is full of sickular pricks who keep making sickular movies with sickular love stories like akbar & bajirao and keep distorting history. Which in turn gives rise to sheer stupidity in todays teenagers who think that those movies represent the actual history.

I was freaking furious when they showed akbar as a completely secular king. Even more furious when I watched bajirao. That's NOT the real history.

 

[DingDong]

Indian military is trained and equipped primarily for defence. In my view the performance and achievements of the Indian Defence forces have not been such that we can glorify them with Hollywood-style war movies. Most of the wars we fought and won were against a country 1/8th the size of our own. Only time we met our match was in 1962 and we know the result.

14th-20th centuries will be remembered in India as centuries of foreign invasions, humiliating defeats, back-stabbing, boot-licking, self-loathing and failed mutinies.

Bollywood will make those excellent war movies once our political leadership and the military will provide us with something glorious to be proud of.

 

[thethinker]

Sadly, Bollywood would go the other way actually.

Make movies with a lot of Wagha Candle Worshipping and 'we are all the same across borders' nonsense.

BTW, Shahrukh Khan's new movie Fan has set a new record in Pakistan.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan has a record breaking opening in Pakistan

As more 'secular' awaam of Bollywood realize the power of appeasing Pakis for getting instant fame and fortune by the presstitute media, expect such unfortunate trends like Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PKs to flood the Indian cinema halls.

 

[Kshatriya87]

Sadly, Bollywood would go the other way actually.

Make movies with a lot of Wagha Candle Worshipping and 'we are all the same across borders' nonsense.

BTW, Shahrukh Khan's new movie Fan has set a new record in Pakistan.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Fan has a record breaking opening in Pakistan

As more 'secular' awaam of Bollywood realize the power of appeasing Pakis for getting instant fame and fortune by the presstitute media, expect such unfortunate trends like Bajrangi Bhaijaan and PKs to flood the Indian cinema halls.

No problem. On the bright side, India is still getting cash inflow from porkis. Indirectly, we are still looting porkis.

 

[Sakal Gharelu Ustad]

Indian military is trained and equipped primarily for defence. In my view the performance and achievements of the Indian Defence forces have not been such that we can glorify them with Hollywood-style war movies. Most of the wars we fought and won were against a country 1/8th the size of our own. Only time we met our match was in 1962 and we know the result.

14th-20th centuries will be remembered in India as centuries of foreign invasions, humiliating defeats, back-stabbing, boot-licking, self-loathing and failed mutinies.

Bollywood will make those excellent war movies once our political leadership and the military will provide us with something glorious to be proud of.

Not really true. Assal Uttar was won against odds. Pak-Bangladesh together were not really that puny as India found in 65 war. And '62 is a different story thanks to political leadership. Given China has stayed quiet since then means we were not such pushovers.

Same goes for sheer courage shown in taking over Siachen.

There are many stories to be told.

 

[Mikesingh]

Indian military is trained and equipped primarily for defence. In my view the performance and achievements of the Indian Defence forces have not been such that we can glorify them with Hollywood-style war movies. Most of the wars we fought and won were against a country 1/8th the size of our own. Only time we met our match was in 1962 and we know the result.

Wrong on both counts!

Firstly, you're confused between geographical size and the size of the armed forces of both India and Pakistan. In 1965 the combat ratio was 1:1.2, with Pakistan having the advantage of attacking first.

Secondly, in 1962, the Indian army was totally ill prepared and had never fought a war since 1947. Troops from the deserts of Rajasthan were airlifted and deployed in high altitude areas without proper acclimatization, clothing or equipment. It was more of a screw-up at the political level with Krishna Menon calling the shots and a clueless Nehru who looked like a chicken flapping around in a pigsty. Adhocism was the order of the day.

Let the Chinese try it out today. They got clobbered in the Chola/Nathula incident in 1967 when they lost 400 of their PLA soldiers due to massive Indian retaliation that destroyed scores of their bunkers, pill boxes and gun positions in the skirmish. They even sued for a ceasefire as their casualty rates were becoming alarming.

And then there was the Somdorongchu incident in Arunachal in 1987 where the PLA was warned by then Indian Army chief, General Sundarjee to get the hell out of the vast areas they had encroached upon there or face a similar rout as they did at Nathula in 1967. The Chinese quietly withdrew without even a whimper!

Because they realized that they were up against a vastly different trained and equipped Indian Army unlike what they faced in 1962.

And then the 1971 war, when the Indian Army smashed through Pak defences in their race to Dhaka, resulting in the shameless surrender of 90,000 Pak Army personnel, from Generals down to sepoys!!

And Kargil too! Nuff said.

 

[Sakal Gharelu Ustad]

Wrong on both counts!

Firstly, you're confused between geographical size and the size of the armed forces of both India and Pakistan. In 1965 the combat ratio was 1:1.2, with Pakistan having the advantage of attacking first.

Secondly, in 1962, the Indian army was totally ill prepared and had never fought a war since 1947. Troops from the deserts of Rajasthan were airlifted and deployed in high altitude areas without proper acclimatization, clothing or equipment. It was more of a screw-up at the political level with Krishna Menon calling the shots and a clueless Nehru who looked like a chicken flapping around in a pigsty. Adhocism was the order of the day.

Let the Chinese try it out today. They got clobbered in the Chola/Nathula incident in 1967 when they lost 400 of their PLA soldiers due to massive Indian retaliation that destroyed scores of their bunkers, pill boxes and gun positions in the skirmish. They even sued for a ceasefire as their casualty rates were becoming alarming.

And then there was the Somdorongchu incident in Arunachal in 1987 where the PLA was warned by then Indian Army chief, General Sundarjee to get the hell out of the vast areas they had encroached upon there or face a similar rout as they did at Nathula in 1967. The Chinese quietly withdrew without even a whimper!

Because they realized that they were up against a vastly different trained and equipped Indian Army unlike what they faced in 1962.

Wrestling control over Siachen heights will make such a great story. It can be both a thriller on how India found out about Paki plans and then how they captured Bana post etc.

 

[Superdefender]

I like "The Last Samurai" movie. Similar Bollywood movie will be worth watching if made.

 

[Rajaraja Chola]

I am sorry. Indian audience are not matured enough to understand war or its politics behind it. Even to sell the rivalry btw India and Pakistan you need masala elements like glamour and comedy like SRK's main hoon na. One of the recent best films "Madras Cafe" by John abraham. I found it so superb. Balanced, Thrilling, based on real RAW accounts. But what? It was just an average grosser.
Even the evergreen "Border" is now a butt of jokes on social media.

 

[Razor]

I am sorry. Indian audience are not matured enough to understand war or its politics behind it. Even to sell the rivalry btw India and Pakistan you need masala elements like glamour and comedy like SRK's main hoon na. One of the recent best films "Madras Cafe" by John abraham. I found it so superb. Balanced, Thrilling, based on real RAW accounts. But what? It was just an average grosser.
Even the evergreen "Border" is now a butt of jokes on social media.

What do you mean by "not matured enough"?

IMHO it is the directors and storywriters and producers that are not daring enough.
It is the movie industry aka B'wood that hasn't matured enough, I think.

 

[kr9]

I am sorry. Indian audience are not matured enough to understand war or its politics behind it. Even to sell the rivalry btw India and Pakistan you need masala elements like glamour and comedy like SRK's main hoon na. One of the recent best films "Madras Cafe" by John abraham. I found it so superb. Balanced, Thrilling, based on real RAW accounts. But what? It was just an average grosser.
Even the evergreen "Border" is now a butt of jokes on social media.

It is not impossible. RDB, Border, Lakshya all reached a lot of people during their time.
And yes I understand there are also movies like Tango Charlie that focus more on a Bollywood style love affair than our soldiers.

What do you mean by "not matured enough"?

IMHO it is the directors and storywriters that are not daring enough.
It is the movie industry aka B'wood that isn't matured enough, I think.

And that may be the problem. Our audience are still seeing CGI and film production techniques from 50 years ago-- which is bad considering that we contribute a lot for Dreamworks, Pixar and other Hollywood Media organizations. It is that the people who make the films need to spend money where it is necessary (there is certainly talent) and start making good stories rather than putting a 2 hour romance/ item song/ 'Desi Rap' combo into everything.

 

[FRYCRY]

We have a chutiya audience who crave for item songs and masala movies on top of that we have a hypocrite neighbor who hates us but loves to watch our movies, recently kabir khan made phantom is a proof of how much butthurtness one anti hafiz saeed movie can create in porkistan.

Lakshya movie was damn good i have no idea why it is so underrated, need more movies like that, it motivates youth to join army. Pakistan LOLywood is coming up with 4 anti india propaganda movies and bolly(khan)wood is busy doing aman ki aasha.

Nonetheless don't ignore the potential of bollywood since we are seeing a rise in good movies like Airlift, bahubali, bajirao mastani which depicts our history who knows some director might be working on a kickass war movie.

 

[DingDong]

Wrong on both counts!

Firstly, you're confused between geographical size and the size of the armed forces of both India and Pakistan. In 1965 the combat ratio was 1:1.2, with Pakistan having the advantage of attacking first.

Secondly, in 1962, the Indian army was totally ill prepared and had never fought a war since 1947. Troops from the deserts of Rajasthan were airlifted and deployed in high altitude areas without proper acclimatization, clothing or equipment. It was more of a screw-up at the political level with Krishna Menon calling the shots and a clueless Nehru who looked like a chicken flapping around in a pigsty. Adhocism was the order of the day.

Let the Chinese try it out today. They got clobbered in the Chola/Nathula incident in 1967 when they lost 400 of their PLA soldiers due to massive Indian retaliation that destroyed scores of their bunkers, pill boxes and gun positions in the skirmish. They even sued for a ceasefire as their casualty rates were becoming alarming.

And then there was the Somdorongchu incident in Arunachal in 1987 where the PLA was warned by then Indian Army chief, General Sundarjee to get the hell out of the vast areas they had encroached upon there or face a similar rout as they did at Nathula in 1967. The Chinese quietly withdrew without even a whimper!

Because they realized that they were up against a vastly different trained and equipped Indian Army unlike what they faced in 1962.

And then the 1971 war, when the Indian Army smashed through Pak defences in their race to Dhaka, resulting in the shameless surrender of 90,000 Pak Army personnel, from Generals down to sepoys!!

And Kargil too! Nuff said.

Proves my point that we never came out of our cocoon, we were always "defenders", we feel pride in the fact that we did not allow the aggressors to capture our land, but the truth is that over the centuries we have lost vast ranges of our historical homeland, and not to forget that our own people helped an European power to rule over us for more than 150 years. Pakistan still holds the POJK.

Population in East Pakistan and in Sikkim were supportive to our armed forces, effectively we were defending, and we had home-turf advantage.

We have made so many movies to celebrate our victories over Pakistan, it has become repetitive, stale. We need something new, something glorious, something which will prove that India has arrived and is ready to become a "great"nation, a country which will defend her interests with all her might and bring the battle to enemy shores.

If we want to be respected, glorified and feared, let us stop reciting our "victories" over the puny Pakistan. India must not fight her next war inside her territory.

 

[HeinzGud]

And that may be the problem. Our audience are still seeing CGI and film production techniques from 50 years ago-- which is bad considering that we contribute a lot for Dreamworks, Pixar and other Hollywood Media organizations. It is that the people who make the films need to spend money where it is necessary (there is certainly talent) and start making good stories rather than putting a 2 hour romance/ item song/ 'Desi Rap' combo into everything.

Yeah I agree with the term "Not matured enough". Majority of Indian people comes to the cinema after hard day or labor. They are not in a mood to indulge into more mature topics such as politics, foreign affairs, history, current events etc., all they want is good laugh and good sensation to blow off their steam.

I don't think the way movies produced in India would change unless the quality of life in India would improve significantly.

 

[HeinzGud]

I am sorry. Indian audience are not matured enough to understand war or its politics behind it. Even to sell the rivalry btw India and Pakistan you need masala elements like glamour and comedy like SRK's main hoon na. One of the recent best films "Madras Cafe" by John abraham. I found it so superb. Balanced, Thrilling, based on real RAW accounts. But what? It was just an average grosser.
Even the evergreen "Border" is now a butt of jokes on social media.

Nah.. I don't vote for Madras cafe to be a historically accurate movie. Though it is mostly correct on contemporary scenes but sometimes I have felt that it focused on the events of 2009 rather than what actually happened in 1986-1989 period.