Border

About the film

Border is a 1997 Indian Hindi-language epic war film written, produced and directed by J. P. Dutta. Set during the India–Pakistan war of 1971, the movie is based on the events of Battle of Longewala. The film stars Sunny Deol in the leading role, alongside an ensemble cast including Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty, and Akshaye Khanna. The movie also features Puneet Issar, Sudesh Berry, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Tabu, Pooja Bhatt, Rakhee Gulzar, Sharbani Mukherjee, Sapna Bedi, and Rajiv Goswami in pivotal roles.

Border was Dutta's dream project. He had begun working on the film's script in September 1995 and completed it by April 1996. The film was mostly shot in Bikaner, Rajasthan. Some parts were also filmed in Jodhpur. The background score of the movie was composed by Aadesh Shrivastava. Javed Akhtar penned the lyrics of the songs while Anu Malik composed the music for the songs. One of the film's songs, "Sandese Aate Hai", sung by Sonu Nigam and Roop Kumar Rathod, became one of the most popular Hindi songs of all time. The popularity of the song led several directors to offer Nigam for singing in their film's songs. The song "Mere Dushman Mere Bhai" was sung by Hariharan.

Plot

Just before the declaration of the India–Pakistan war of 1971, Indian Air Force Wing Commander Andy Bajwa and his wingmen take off from an operational training unit (OTU) airbase for an undisclosed airbase in Rajasthan. Upon arrival, Bajwa is briefed by his superior that he and his No. 122 (ad-hoc) Squadron have been assigned to an advance airfield in the Jaisalmer sector to fly Hawker Hunter ground attack missions in support of the Army.

He is soon joined by his brother-in-arms, Indian Army Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri, who has recently bid a short farewell to his wife, Preeti, with a promise to return alive from war. They meet during a military courier flight and discuss the possibility of Pakistan opening a Western front in light of the East Pakistan conflict.

After reaching the FOB, Kuldip assumes command of Alpha Company (composed of 120 soldiers), of the 23rd Battalion, Punjab Regiment. He expresses concern to his CO over the light defence being assigned to the Longewala military post. He meets his 2i/c, 2nd Lieutenant Dharamvir Singh Bhakhri – the son of a 1965 India–Pakistan war veteran, late Maj. Virbhan Singh Bhakhri, who was KIA – and the company's JCO, Naib Subedar Mathura Das. Das is desperate for leave during the emergency period as his wife is suffering from cancer and there is no one to care for her and their children.

Production

Sunny Deol was the first choice for the role of Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri. Sanjay Dutt was signed to play the role of Wing Commander Andy Bajwa (character based on Wing Commander M. S. Bawa), but was replaced by Jackie Shroff, due to the former's jail sentence. Suniel Shetty had initially declined the role of Assistant Commandment Bhairon Singh Rathore(character based on BSF Lance Naik Bhairon Singh Rathore). Sanjay Kapoor and Armaan Kohli were considered for the role, before Shetty changed his mind. Ajay Devgn, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, and Saif Ali Khan were all offered the role of 2nd Lieutenant Dharamvir Singh Bhakhri (character based on Captain Dharamvir Singh Bhakhri). Salman declined as he felt he wasn't ready for the film; Aamir was filming for Ishq; Devgn declined as he didn't want to be featured in a multi-starrer; while Kumar and Saif declined for unknown reasons.

Puneet Issar was selected for the role of Subedar Ratan Singh, due to his resemblance to the real life Vir Chakra awardee war hero. Aditya Pancholi was considered for the role of Naib Subedar Mathura Das (character based on Sepoy Mathura Das) before Sudesh Berry was signed. Kulbhushan Kharbanda was chosen to play the role of Havildar Bhagiram (character based on Sepoy Bhagiram), who was also the company’s cook. Juhi Chawla was offered the role of Kudlip's wife, but declined as she didn't want to play a minor role. Manisha Koirala was also offered the role, but declined for the same reason. Dutta had originally wanted Sonali Bendre for the role of Bajwa's fiancee.

During production and filming, both the Indian Army and Air Force provided vehicles, grenades, rifles, machine guns and a man-portable anti-tank system, as well as uniforms and tactics used by the Pakistani Army during the Battle of Longewala. T-55 tanks resembling Chinese origin Pakistani Type-59s, weapons of the 70's era like MMGs, LMGs, RCLs, SLRs and Browning Hi-Power Pistols as well as Air Force Planes like Hawker Hunters and MiG-21s were shown. The Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher used by Sunny Deol during the iconic end scenes of the movie was the Carl-Gustaf M2. All the actors, especially Sunny Deol, Sunil Shetty, Akshaye Khanna, and Jackie Shroff, were extremely nostalgic and felt elated and honoured to be a part of such an epic war movie. After the filming, director Dutta said, "Border has a gigantic canvas on which I have tried to bring some real-life characters alive. It was shot in actual locations in the deserts of Rajasthan. For me, Border was like fighting a war."

Music

The background score of the film was done by Aadesh Shrivastava. The lyrics of the songs were penned by Javed Akhtar and the music for the film's songs was composed by Anu Malik.

Key details