Director JP Dutta and cast of the film Paltan, Arjun Rampal, Sonu Sood, Harshvardhan Rane and Gurmeet Choudhary tell A Sarkar about their deep-rooted link and respect for the armed forces
There is very little that one can dramatise when the subject of a film is as gritty and gut-wrenching as that of Paltan. Not known to many, India and China had a standoff in Nathu La in 1967, which is the longest stretch of border that our country has with China. It started on September 11, 1967 after the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) attacked Indian posts. The intense fight lasted for four days and the Indians held their ground and this clash happened years before Doklam.
The film took several years in the making because the director and producer JP Dutta had undertaken extensive research about the clashes in Nathu La. With this film, Dutta is coming back after 12 years and completing a trilogy of war movies that began with Border and was followed up by LOC Kargil.
The veteran believes that making patriotic films comes with responsibility since one can’t make it look jingoistic. “If you’re not realistic and tackling a subject that did happen then you are dabbling in something you shouldn’t. Patriotism in films is something that is, without disrespect to contemporaries and juniors, forced,” he said.
He believed not much has changed between India and China when it came to territorial claims. “The Sino-India situation remains the same now as 1962; it still claims Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. They haven’t changed their stance at all. When a single Indian minister lands in Tawang, China creates such a hue and cry. At the end of the day, we are getting upset because Arunachal Pradesh is part of our country. It belongs to India and yet we have to take permission to go there. As long as they keep claiming one part of our country, the situation won’t change,” he said. However, the director doesn’t believe that India needs to turn aggressor to assert control. He claimed that our country is a liberator and loves peace. “We have always defended because of invasions. Now that we have our freedom, we are one people and one nation we should try and keep it together. Look at Vietnam, when a superpower like America could lose to the small country we should remember that the spirit matters,” he said.
Asked why he continues to make war movies, he said, “I want to tell people to have that spirit then we can take on any power. We’ll never be slaves again and I make these movies to give the Armed Forces respect and their due and make them immortal.”
To bring authenticity to the picturisation of a war, real guns and bullets were used. The shooting was done mostly in Ladakh and instead of junior artists real soldiers of the Indian army can be seen in the film. The film stars Jackie Shroff, who was also in Border, Arjun Rampal, Sonu Sood, Gurmeet Choudhary and Harshvardhan Rane. All of the actors unanimously said that to work in a war film, JP Dutta is the best person with the knowledge and experience.
“The minute you have live ammunition on you, your body language and responsibility changes and that translates well on screen,” said Rampal. He plays Lt Col. Rai Singh, a Mahavir Chakra hero. Rampal talked about his military past; his paternal and maternal grandfathers were in the forces and he has grown up seeing the austerity of an army life. “I drew influence from my grandparents for this role,” he said. An exchange program between the Indian and British forces had been instated before the Indian independence and it was continued post 1947 as well. “Both Lt. Col. Rai Singh and my maternal grandfather had been part of the program. I figured that both would be kind of similar, in terms of being great strategists, well-read and have good control over their unit. Rai Singh leads from the front and doesn’t sit in the bunkers like officers,” he said.
Choudhary, who also has links to the army, recollected his past, “My father was in the army. I have studied in an army school. I have seen my father in a uniform and how grand it looks. I lived in army quarters and knew a lot about the armed forces before taking on the film. If not for an actor, I would have been in the army. I really wanted to be an actor though, and ran away to Mumbai despite clearing the physical part of the entrance exam for the army.”
According to Sood, an actor’s filmography is not complete until they play an army officer. “I was cast for LOC Kargil but unfortunately I couldn’t do it then because I was shooting for another film. Then I got another call from JP sir several years later when he was casting for Paltan and he said we’re doing the film together,” the actor, who plays Major Bhishan Singh, said. The fitness enthusiast said that he woke up during the early hours to go for a run in Ladakh while shooting and the actors would work out together. He said there was no gym in the hotel initially. There were just two dumbbells and he asked for a gym to be set up. By the end of the two months, the hotel staff had also been converted into avid gym lovers. “I’m glad we could pass the fitness mantra to them as well and installed a gym where there was none before,” he said.
Rane, who made his Bollywood debut with Sanam Teri Kasam, too is a runaway to Mumbai, who made it big. “I’m playing the character of Major Harbhajan Singh and he’s an intense person because of the violence he witnessed in 1962. My character is the only one from 18 Rajput, the rest are from Grenadiers regiment. His character is just and righteous. There is a dwar in Nathu La commemorating him and he’s a Mahavir Chakra awardee. I met his niece and she was very happy with my performance,” he said.
“I grew up in an army cantonment area in Gwalior and my grandfather was a Colonel with the Grenadiers. I didn’t get to know him since he had passed away early but I used to interact with the remnants, his clothes, pictures, badges and rifles. I used to hear stories through my grandmother and I finally got to interact with the soldiers one-on-one. There is no other job on this planet that puts your life in danger. They showed us their bullet wounds and scars as easily as we show a small scratch. Despite the danger, they go back to the border areas and I salute them and their families,” he added.
Rane, who replaced Abhishek Bachchan in the film and signed a three-film contract with Dutta, had an interesting story about co-star Shroff. “He liked my shirt that I had bought from the military store so I bought one for him too after the end of the shoot for the day. The next morning, when I went up to him in the morning, he was sitting in only red briefs and soaking in the sun. I gave him the shirt and he gave me his Ray bans, which I had liked, but without me asking for it,” he said.
