The film Rustom (2016) got the Navy uniform wrong in many ways. Though it was set in the 1950s, Akshay Kumar’s character, naval officer Cdr K M Nanavati, wore the Kargil Star (1999) as well as other medals from recent decades. The name tag was also introduced in the 1970s

Soon after the release of the first poster of Akshay Kumar’s film Gorkha – where the actor is seen holding a khukri – former Army officer Major Manik M Jolly tweeted to Kumar, pointing out that a traditional khukri is different. He wrote, “Dear Akshay Kumar ji, as an ex Gorkha officer, my thanks to you for making this movie. However, details matter. Kindly get the Khukri right.(sic)” Kumar responded, “We’ll take utmost care while filming. I’m very proud and honoured to be making Gorkha. Any suggestions to get it closest to reality would be most appreciated.”

This isn’t the first time an officer has pointed out a mistake in Bollywood films. We spoke to a few officers from the armed forces and experts to understand why they often don’t get it right.

Experts say that most films can’t survive the test of accuracy because filmmakers don’t understand the nuances of the uniform, dialogues or weapons. A serving Army officer on condition of anonymity says, “The reason they don’t get it right is that they take shortcuts and do not want to get into details. While a war movie still has some nuances, if it’s a general movie where a character happens to be a military officer, it seems like they just randomly pick whatever uniform is available. Be it unit, core or colours – they get nothing right. Peace uniforms and combat gear is entirely different, but filmmakers do not differentiate.”

“Ribbons signify a lot in the military uniform, but they are used as an embellishment in Bollywood films, and so are caps. What usually happens is that filmmakers do not discuss this with military historians, and that’s why they don’t get those details right. I remember in the film Tirangaa (1993), there is a clip that introduces Raaj Kumar and it says that the Major was promoted to Brigadier. It is preposterous. But the focus for them was on Raaj Kumar’s character and not the wrong ranks they were using in dialogues. Similarly, in Jab Tak Hai Jaan, SRK’s character is so filmy, but then it is also the USP of the film,” says Gautam Chintamani, a film historian.

Film historian Gautam Chintamani points out that there are films like Govind Nihlani’s Vijeta (1982) or Prahaar: The Final Attack (1991), starring Nana Patekar, that have gotten it right. He says, “Even the war scenes in Chetan Anand’s Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973) were so good because they consulted the retired officers. In recent years, Uri (2019) and Shershaah (2021) were both bang-on in their depictions of the military. Right now there is a keen interest of the audience to see these characters, and even military officers are watching and responding, which is great.”

Uri, too, had former Army officers on board as advisors. Major General (Retired) A K Siwach, who was the Defence advisor for Uri, told us earlier, “I had asked for changes in the first draft of Uri and for them to revise the script again. I also told them to give the background of the operations and characters. Getting the nuances right is the most important thing for such films. For example, for the surgical strike scene, they wanted there to be a tunnel. I told them there are no tunnels there, make it caves. I have asked for changes several times.”

In Main Hoon Na (2004), Shah Rukh Khan’s character is of a Para Commando but the cap he wears is ceremonial