While the Army has featured as a character – central, as well as peripheral – in several Bollywood movies, few have gotten the nuances of military life right or managed to nail the details related to Army personnel and the war zone down to the T. On Army Day, we spoke to some serving and retired Army personnel on how they think Bollywood movies captured their lives and battles, including all the things they got right – and wrong – on screen.

What is surprising is that over a dozen officers (retired and those still serving) – when asked about their favourite Army films – could only think of two-three names that did justice to the Forces. Among these was Chetan Anand’s Haqeeqat (1964), starring Dharmendra and Farhan Akhtar’s Lakshya (2004) starring Hrithik Roshan – both of which featured a realistic portrayal of soldiers’ lives.

Major (retd) Sandeep Sangwan, who is also a defence consultant for the upcoming film Pippa, starring Ishaan Khatter and based on the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971, says, “If one were to judge a film on the parameters of weapons, equipment, uniform and the movement of the troops, then Border, LOC: Kargil, Lakshya, Uri: The Surgical Strike, and Shershaah score the highest.”

Major Mohommed Ali Shah, a former Army officer, who has acted in several films and web series, says, “Films that I feel were quite close in their depiction of the life of soldiers are Lakshya and Uri — if we don’t count the drone scenes and jingoism in the latter. Uri showed operations like no other film had before, and had all the accurate details, be it the uniform or the operations procedure.”

While several defence personnel may have appreciated Border, Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah, former Deputy Chief of Army Staff, who fought in the Battle of Longewala, isn’t a fan. He says, “The image that Indian films often portray of a soldier — as an alcoholic who sings and dances in the mess, and at times even on the battlefield! — isn’t true. Wars are nasty, but our films glorify them and have so much jingoism. Either they don’t hire any defence consultant or they don’t listen to them. I think Haqeeqat is a film that is better out of the lot, and I do think that films have improved in recent years.”

An Army officer who didn’t wish to be named, adds, “War is glorified and even politicised at times in Bollywood films, and they often imply that all soldiers do is to fight, which is definitely not true. Soldiers are quite well informed and they have to study and do a lot of research too, which is unfortunately never shown in films. Apart from films like Haqeeqat, I really liked Shaurya — inspired by Tom Cruise’s A Few Good Men — in terms of its portrayal of Army personnel. It is quite a wonderful film.”

Major Sangwan believes that to get the details right, it’s important to have defence experts on board. “While filmmakers do a lot of research when it comes to uniforms, they would not know the nuances of the uniform as compared to a person who wore it. While an artiste may believe they are wearing a ‘costume’, a uniform is not a costume. In fact, while portraying a soldier, one should know every aspect of that uniform.”

Major Shah adds, “Many makers have this misconception that they can’t show an accurate uniform on screen because ‘it is not allowed’.”

Having starred in the military drama series Avrodh: The Siege Within (2020) — for which he was also a defence consultant — and the film Haider (2014), he believes it is, in fact, necessary to get the details right. “In Haider, it was just a matter of a few scenes, but even then we got these details right. When there is a web series or a film based on the life of a soldier, if you can’t get these basics right, then what’s the point?”

Major Sangwan adds, “For Pippa, we trained junior artistes on how to talk, mannerisms, and decorum so that nuances weren’t lost. As compared to 20-30 years ago, films today are also more realistic because makers can use CGI, VFX, and other special effects.”