When it comes to creative story-telling, no form of content works better to entice the patriot in you, than the way movies based on the Indian Army do. It’s almost like a tried and tested formula to success and when these movie releases are clubbed around a patriotic day, it only ensures more moviegoers will throng to the cinema to catch a glimpse of their favourite stars and leave the theatres rejoicing in pride. Indian cinema has seen numerous movies based on the Indian armed forces going all the way back to Haqeeqat in 1964 to JP Dutta’s 1997 film Border or to even present day movies like Parmanu and Paltan.
As we too love patriotic movies and have seen quite a few over our lifetime, we put down a list of our 5 Best Bollywood Movies Based On The Indian Army:
1. Border (1997)
Undoubtedly one of the most epic movies on the Indian Army of all time, this J.P. Dutta blockbuster is an adaptation of real-life events from the Indo-Pak war of 1971.
Starring Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty, Akshaye Khanna, Jackie Shroff, Tabu, Pooja Bhatt, Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Raakhee, Border was the 2nd highest grossing Bollywood movie of that year. The movie was actually made as an appeal against war as was portrayed in the end song “Mere Dushman Mere Bhai”.
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2. Lakshya (2004)
One of Farhan Akhtar’s finest works, Lakshya is an Indian war drama movie produced by Ritesh Sidhwani. The movie stars Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta and Amitabh Bachchan. The plot revolves around Lieutenant Karan Shergill (played by Hrithik Roshan), who goes from being an aimless fellow to an army officer.
While the movie didn’t do exceptionally well at the box office, it eventually ended up being a cult classic. Lakshya will certainly be remembered for the strong characters that Hrithik & Preity portrayed. Even the beautiful shots of the IMA, Dehradun and the rock-climbing scene in the climax, which created history for becoming the highest crane shot taken at 18,000 feet, are something the film will always be known for.
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3. Parmanu: The Story Of Pokhran (2018)
Certainly one of our new favourite Indian Army movies, Parmanu is an all-out John Abraham show. The movie is based on India’s second nuclear test series at Pokhran during the time of Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure.
With China already completing 43 nuclear tests while India had only 1, Ashwath Raina (played by John Abraham), an IAS officer, suggests a plan to the PMO secretary to perform a retaliatory nuclear test, which fails and brings embarrassment to the country. Fast forward to 1998 where he gets another chance and the story follows how he goes about putting a crew together of scientists and army personnel, and the hardships that the team faces to conduct the nuclear test, under the prying eyes of the American & Pakistani Intelligence and Surveillance Systems.
Parmanu is part fact, part fiction and does a great job of keeping the viewer glued to the screen because of the scenes of the ticking clocks, surveillance satellites and personal tensions that ensue through the second half.
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4. Holiday: A Soldier Is Never Off Duty (2014)
Next on our list is Holiday, an action-thriller film written and directed by A.R. Murugadoss, which is a remake of his Tamil film Thuppakki. The film stars Akshay Kumar and Sonakshi Sinha, with Govinda making a special appearance.
The film’s plot is around a soldier called Virat Bakshi (played by Akshay Kumar) whose holiday turns into a mission to save his city from a terrorist attack, while he is on the lookout for his lady love for marriage. Holiday opens your eyes to the various Sleeper Cells that operate across cities and brings in the fear that anyone and everyone around you could be a ‘closet’ terrorist.
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5. Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012)
Last but certainly not the least is Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif starrer Jab Tak Hai Jaan. This was also director Yash Chopra’s final movie before his demise which made this movie even more memorable for all his fans.
The plot of Jab Tak Hai Jaan revolves around the story of a bomb disposal expert who takes on that journey in the name of love. The story unfolds when Akira (played by Anushka Sharma), a documentary filmmaker starts reading Samar’s (played by SRK) personal diary. She discovers that this bomb disposal expert used to do various odd jobs in London back in the day and had fallen in love with a successful businesswoman, Meera (played by Katrina Kaif). Why they broke up and how Samar ended up in the army are questions that the rest of the plot answers in this movie.
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So, that was our list of best Bollywood movies based on the Indian army. Comment and tell us which your favourite Army movies are?
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