Apoorva Lakhia to bring Indo-China Galwan valley clash on the big screen
Filmmaker Apporva Lakhia, known for projects such as Shootout At Lokhandwala (2007) and Ek Ajnabi (2005), is planning to make a film about the Indo-China Galwan valley conflict and tell the valiant story of Indian soldiers on the big screen.
The filmmaker has purchased the rights to a chapter of the book titled India’s Most Fearless 3. Shiv Aroor and Rahul Singh co-wrote the book, which is a collection of ten actual accounts of amazing bravery displayed by Indian soldiers in hazardous environments. On June 15, 2020, Chinese soldiers breached the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, triggering a military standoff between India and China.The confrontation, which killed 20 Indian soldiers, and unreported Chinese soldiers was one of the worst in 45 years. The chapter summarizes the period in which 200 Indian soldiers allegedly bravely defended their land against a well-trained group of 1200 Chinese Liberation Army forces.
 The story-screenplay will be adapted by Suresh Nair and Chintan Gandhi, while the lines will be written by Chintan Shah. The film appears to be in the early stages of pre-production, and any more facts about the film’s cast and crew, as well as when the film will go into production, remain unknown.
‘India’s Most Fearless 3’ is published by Penguin Random House and the book’s official synopsis reads, “An army medic who went beyond the call of duty amid a frenzy of treacherous bloodletting in Ladakh’s Galwan while his fellow soldiers fought the Chinese to death; the crew of an Indian Navy destroyer that put everything on the line to rescue hundreds from Cyclone Tauktae in the Arabian Sea; an Indian Air Force pilot who ejected from his doomed fighter less than two seconds before it hit the ground, only to find he was missing a leg”.
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After Vicky Kaushal’s ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’ (2019), this will be the second Bollywood film based on the Indian Army’s military retribution. Most records about the Indo-China Galwan valley fight and India’s reprisal are currently classified, and it will be fascinating to see how much of the actual information the filmmaker is permitted to display in the film.
Also, unlike Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019), which was released just two months before India’s 2019 General Loksabha election and was used for a political benefit of one particular political party during the election, one hopes that by releasing the film around India’s 2024 General Loksabha election, we don’t get to witness the soldier’s valour and sacrifice of their lives again being used for a political gain of one particular political party.
(Note: This is the author’s personal political opinion; it should not be associated with the website.)
