I dedicate this review to one of our fellow MSian Abhishek’s (abhichatz) father, an army man, and all the Indians who sacrificed their life for India till date. And also to the Pakistani soldiers who died doing their duty under instructions from their army chief.
The conditions under which our boys fought cannot be buried in the rubble of history. I want the impact that Barkha Dutt made on Reality Bites when she visited Kargil.
J.P. Dutta
Without doubt, JP Dutta has managed to make an impact. Barkha did it in real life and JP has done it in reel life. Both have managed to pull our heartstrings. Hats off to both of them.
In the history of Indian cinema, there have been very few well-made war movies like Haqeeqat, Hindustan Ki Kasam, Lalkar, and Upkar. Of course there were other movies like Gadar, Maa Tujhe Salaam, etc but they were either jingoistic or neo-nationalistic that dealt more with Paki bashing than the courage and commitment of India’s brave soldiers.
LOC tries to eulogize the courage displayed by our soldiers in the face of adversity, while the whole nation was savouring Indian victories and mourning Indian defeats in World Cup Cricket. LOC is the story of some Indian soldiers who died in the Kargil war (aptly named Operation Vijay) in 1999. Their sacrifice ensured the security of India’s border, one more time. LOC is a collage of many stories that depicts the heroics of some of our soldiers. The movie starts with the scenes of mobilization of soldiers from various battalions and regiments to various posts and points to annihilate the enemy. The brave soldier go on to capture post after post and in the bargain lose many lives. Finally, victory is achieved. How? Well, go watch the movie.
PROS
The scene depicting mobilization of soldiers from various battalions to various posts and points are well interspersed with the introduction of various characters (big and small) and their nostalgic moments involving their families/lovers.
The song Seemayen bulaye tujhe is excellently picturised on the heroines synchronizing well with the patriotic theme of the movie.
The scene where Sanjay Dutt & Co. while on their way, encounter a truck full of Indian body bags to be dispatched to their families. This scene is bound to bring lump in your throat.
There are no dramatic or flashy introduction scenes for our star actors and there are no lengthy dialogues in the death scenes. And no dramatic or jingoistic dialogues a la Gadar.
The first encounter scene with the enemy led by Ajay Devgan.
The scene where Akshaye Khanna forcibly takes food from the tiffins of other soldiers. When asked as to why he did not bring his own food he replies that instead of carrying food in his tiffin he preferred carrying bullets in it to serve the enemies. Very touching scene. It shows the commitment, patriotism and dedication of our soldiers.
All the battle scenes are realistically picturised and do not look staged at all.
The scene where a Pakistani soldier tells Abhishek that if India hands over Madhuri Dixit then they will give Kashmir. Abhishek gets angry and then after killing the Pak soldiers he exclaims “From Madhuri with love”.
The scenes depicting legitimate grouse among various battalions regarding the lack of acclimatisation, artillery in their quest for a successful mission, are deftly handled.
The comic and emotional scenes between Manoj and Ashutosh make for a good laugh and touch you emotionally.
Until now we had only heard about Bofors (and the scam) but JP Dutta gives us a chance to see the real Bofors gun in the movie.
The death scenes of some protagonists touch you emotionally. If you have shed buckets of tears while watching KHNH then you will shed tankers and drums of tears watching LOC (Sarcasm definitely intended).
CONS
For me, only two flaws.
One is the length. The duration of the movie can be easily reduced by half an hour
Two, the romantic track of major characters juxtaposed with the song Pyaar Bhara Geet Koi irritates the viewers. Perhaps JP Dutta has tried to satisfy egos of some stars.
STAR CAST
JP Dutt has handled so many big and small actors very well and their characterisations are well sketched. It must be noted that all the actors, big and small, have acted brilliantly. More importantly each and everyone looked like the character, an army man, and not the star that they are. Even the heroines have played their part well, never mind the length of their role. Surprisingly, even non-actor and actresses like Kareena, Esha, Sanjay Kapoor, etc, have acted very well in this movie. JPD has not used the heroines as glamour factor but are made to serve as a strong support system for their husband-soldiers. As Dutta says, “Heroines only complement the fact that life is beautiful – war is ugly. Women are the creators, men the destructors.
Sanjay Dutt plays the role of Lt Col Yogesh Kumar Joshi, Vir Chakra, who headed the Jat Battalion and planned the victory at Tiger Hills. Namrata Shirodkar plays Sanjay Dutt’s wife.
Ajay Devgan plays the role of Lt Manoj Kumar Pandey, Param Vir Chakra, who led the 1/11 Gurkha Rifles to capture Khalubar in Batalik sector. Rani Mukherjee plays Ajay Devgan’s sweetheart.
Abhishek Bachchan plays the role of Captain Vikram Batra, Param Vir Chakra, who undertook a difficult task of encountering the enemy at altitude of 17, 000 feet. Esha Deol plays Abhishek Bachchan’s lover.
Manoj Bajpai plays the role of grenadier Yogender Singh Yadav, Param Vir Chakra, who led the Ghatak platoon that captured Tiger Hill and despite fatal injury killed the Pak soldiers. Mahima Choudhary is Manoj’s wife.
Saif Ali Khan plays the role of Captain Anuj Nayyar, Mahavir Chakra. Kareena Kapoor is the ladylove of Saif Ali Khan.
Akshaye Khanna plays the role of Lt. Balwan Singh, Maha Vir Chakra, whose courage and determination led to capture of Tiger Hill. Priti Jhangiani plays Akshaye Khanna’s sweetheart.
Sunil Shetty plays the role of Rifleman Sanjay Kumar, Param Vir Chakra, of the 13 JAK Rifles destroyed a Pakistani bunker. Isha Koppikar plays the role of Shetty’s fiancee.
Nagarjuna plays the role of Major Padmapani Acharya, Mahavir Chakra, was assigned the task of capturing a heavily backed enemy position. Priya Gill plays Nagarjuna’s wife.
Karan Nath plays the role of Major Rajesh Singh Adhikari, Mahavir Chakra, who caused heavy casualties to the intruders before giving up his life. Akansha is wife of Karan Nath.
Sanjay Kapoor plays the role of Major Deepak Rampal, Vir Chakra, from the 17 Jat Battalion led us to victory by capturing the Teen Pimple Hill in Kargil. Raveena Tandon is Sanjay Kapoor’s wife.
Colonel Kushal Thakur, Yudh Seva Medal (Raj Babbar), Colonel Lalit Rai, Vir Chakra (Sudesh Berry), Colonel M B Ravindranath, Vir Chakra (Ashish Vidyarthi), Lieutenant Vijayanth Thapar, Vir Chakra (Amarr Upadhyay), Major Vikas Vohra, Vir Chakra (Armaan Kohli), Colonel Umesh Singh Bawa, Vir Chakra (Kiran Kumar), Major Asthana (Mukesh Tiwari), Captain Rajesh Adhau, Sena Medal (Milind Gunaji), Rifleman Yogendra Singh (Ashutosh Rana), Major P S Janghu (Ayub Khan), Major Sanjeev Jamwal, Vir Chakra (Bikram Saluja), Major Vivek Gupta, Mahavir Chakra (Himanshu Malik). All these actors have acted brilliantly.
But the best, among the best, according to me in the movie were, Ajay, Manoj, Abhishek, Saif and Puru Rajkumar.
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