New Delhi: The hard-fought victory in the Kargil War in 1999, one of independent India’s biggest and most monumental milestones, is celebrated each year on July 26 as ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’.
The war has inspired a host of Bollywood movies, the most recent one being the hit 2021 movie ‘Shershaah’, starring Sidharth Malhotra, playing the martyred war hero, Captain Vikram Batra, and Kiara Advani.
Like the movies inspired by the struggle for independence and the two World Wars, each of the Kargil movies adopted a different approach.
Shershaah (2021)
A multiple award-winning biographical film, it tells the story of Captain Vikram Batra from the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, who was given the codename Shershaah by his superiors for his great courage on the battlefield, capturing critical strategic peaks such as Point 4875 and 5140.
Captain Batra died in action against enemy units in that battle. He was awarded the Param Vir Chakra for his bravery and is considered one of the best soldiers of the Indian Army.
Lakshya (2004)
Starring Hrithik Roshan and Preity Zinta, it is considered to be one of Bollywood’s greatest Kargil War-inspired films and a cult classic. The movie’s narrative revolves around the tale of a fictional character, played by Hrithik, who comes from a rich family with no purpose in life. He half-heartedly joins the Army and later finds his purpose or ‘lakshya’ when he decides to recapture one of the most crucial peaks of this war, which had fallen into Pakistani hands, leading to a blockade of Indian Army convoys, delays in the supply of ammunition, weaponry, food, and even logistical information.
Tango Charlie (2005)
Not exclusively based on the war, it focused on it in a significant part. It tells cinematically the lesser-known part that the Border Security Force (BSF) played in the war, guarding the borders against terrorists and infiltration by Pakistani soldiers into Kashmir.
It was led d by an all-star cast of Ajay Devgan, Bobby Deol, Suniel Shetty and Sanjay Dutt but didn’t do well at the box office.
LOC Kargil (2003)
This movie touched upon several aspects of the war, ranging from the fight to recapture Tiger Hill and other strategic peaks while also guarding strategically important Points 4835 and 5714 in the Dras sector of Ladakh.
This movie also had Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt and Suniel Shetty besides Saif Ali Khan and Rani Mukerji. It also tells us about the roles of the various units of the Indian Army played in the role, such as the Rajputana Rifles, Gorkha Rifles, Jammu and Kashmir Rifles, Jat Regiment and Sikh Regiment.
Kurukshetra (2008)
Helmed by a retired Indian Army officer, Major Ravi, it is a Malayalam movie. Mohanlal reprises his role as Colonel Mahadevan. The film is all about the Battle of Tololing, the peak that overlooks the Srinagar-Leh Highway, where Indian troops from the 2nd Rajputana Rifles fought a numerically far superior force of the Pakistan Army’s Northern Light Infantry unit as well as mercenaries and terrorists, and earned a massive victory killing more than 125 Pakistani troops in combat.
Gunjan Saxena (2020)
This Netflix film starring Jahnvi Kapoor, Angad Bedi and Pankaj Tripathi, tells the story of an ambitious Indian Air Force pilot and the difficulties she faced due to her age and because she was a woman in a man’s world.
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