Lakshya is one of those VERY FEW Hindi films that deal with the present subject sensitively and maturely. I was pleasantly surprised to find out the emotional connect that the movie has with the audience.
The army’s heroics in Kargil war and the youth’s modern day disconnect with reality are the essential themes of this movie.
We start with Lt. Karan Shergill played by Hrithik Roshan who is posted at Kargil after completing his Indian Military Academy training. There, he meets up with all the main players in the army from the major to his colleagues. Major Sunil Damle played by Amitabh Bachachan happens to be incharge of a regiment known for its glorious history, and he’s damn proud of it - which he explicitly lets Karan know of.
Lt. Karan Shergill’s facial expressions are a treat to watch - the dead seriousness displayed in his body language and the pain in his eyes.
Well...the movie then flashes back to his college days where he is carefree, acts and lives in a fashionable, lavish way. His very goodlooking and smart girlfriend Ms. Romila Dutta played by my favorite Preity Zinta (ok...ok...I got a crush on her !). Romila knows her Lakshya - which is to become a journalist. However, her love - the carefree Karan is one of her biggest headache - trying to convince him to do something useful with his life.
Agar main kahoon song is beautifully shot and emotionally moving too. Why? - you ask :) Well...when I watched this song...I got a ’’mood elevation’’ - one of those moments that lifts your spirit up and makes you feel good. I don’t know if it’s true for every one else who saw this movie. Maybe, it’s just the crush thing I have on PZ ;)
Anyways, Karan is under pressure from his parents ( his dad played by Bomi Irani), his lady love and other peers - decides to do something useful He ends up following one of his friend’s aspiration of joining the army. What follows is a comic tragedy - when Karan gets enrolled for the army training camp - and finds himself seriously in trouble due to his indiscipline and lack of interest in army life and methods. These scenes are very funny and also makes you kind of sympathetic to Karan Shergill and other army mens lives. Karan’s punishments are severe and humiliating. Faced with this, he runs back away to home.
His father feels vindicated - that - his prediction of his good-for-nothing son will return back from army in 4 days time. Romila gets pretty upset with this behavior of Karan and breaks up with him.
Karan starts anew and now vows to complete his army training - though in a state of being heartbroken When he does complete his training, Karan matures out and suddenly doesn’t feel the need to be controlled and looked after. He lets Romila know that they shall meet again on his own time. This further deteriorates the relationship b/w them.
Scene then shifts to Kargil where sheperds get to watch Pakistanis infiltrating to Indian side with heavy armory. This stabbing-on-back gesture by Pakistan leads to Kargil war preparations. Karan, meantime, has taken a break from his Kargil posting to come to his home in Delhi - where he comes to know that Romila is engaged. To make things worse for him, he is called back on active duty to Kargil immediately. His continued tough relationship with his dad just adds up his painful experience on returning home and going back again to Kargil.
What follows then is a predictable sequence. Karan’s regiment prepares their plan of attack. They end up attacking the very first infiltrated post, which is by and large successful.
The real life stories of our army men is depicted here. The fact that Pakistan refused to take by its dead army men and also the fact that Pakistan returned captured Indian soldiers bodies in a mutilated fashion.
The next scene shifts back to the regiment’s base where Karan comes to see and meet Romila - who is now a television journalist covering the war. The emotional wounds become fresh again - for both Karan and Romila. You can actually feel the irony of the situation when Karan tells Romila ’’congratulations on getting engaged!’’ It is later that he finds out that Romila has broken her engagement before coming to cover the Kargil war.
The final hurdle to capture the Kargil peak is difficult and backbreaking. The regiment faces very heavy losses in trying to capture this post. Major Sunil Damle is given an ultimatum in capturing the peak or else warned that another regiment will have to take over. Knowing the kind of stakes on line, the Major decides to have one last go at capturing the peak. Karan is given the task (with 11 other men) to capture to peak by climbing 800 vertical feet (from one end only) at night. This end of the peak is near impossible to climb, which Pakistani infiltrators know and hence do not care to observe. What follows is good breathtaking action and a predictable but heart warming ending.
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Certain observations from my end:
The movie, without doubt, is a tribute to the Kargil war heroes and also provides a very strong and practical message to today’s youth.
Although, I do have certain reservations on certain connotations in the movie:
1) Pakistani army is full of no-gooders with buffoons as army men I think we need to give a little more respect to their tactics and thought process in carrying out terrorist acts- which - hard as it may be to digest - is to a degree been successful in Kashmir.
2) Indian army is all clean and honest I don’t think so. They are also known for having incidents of human rights abuse and dishonesty. Unless we deal with this issue - we are never going to understand - why so many Kashmiris are pissed off against rest of India.
3) Politicians have done their very best in averting war - is a fundamental mistake. Quite the opposite, in fact. We (both Indians and Pakistanis) need to understand that war at times is brought upon us due to immaturity and gross neglect of the sensitive relationship by our politicians.
Finally, the only solution methinks for Kashmir is an honest and frank introspection by India and Pakistan - of what is to be shared, what is not - and how much freedom for Kashmiris - and so on.
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All in all, Lakshya’s dedication to Kargil war is an excellent way of honoring our overall brave and distinguished army men.
A truly ’’feel good’’ movie, which need I say - is a MUST WATCH MOVIE (though not watching it does not mean you are any less patriotic!)