Border Movie Tribute: Remembering India’s Greatest War Film & Untold Stories

Border Movie Tribute: The nineties Bollywood war film 'Border' touched the hearts of millions across India at a time when Bollywood had not seen a decent patriotic film for years. Released on 13 June 1997, the film is based on the real-life battle of Longewala that took place during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The story showcases the bravery, sacrifice, and spirit of unity of Indian soldiers who fought against all odds to protect their country, losing their lives but emerging victorious.

The film was directed, produced and written by J.P. Dutta. He had been dreaming of making the film for a long time and worked on the script for months before the shooting began. The dialogues were also written by J.P. Dutta and the music was composed by Anu Malik. The lyrics were written by Javed Akhtar. Most of the film was shot in the desert of Bikaner in Rajasthan and some scenes were shot in Jodhpur and Ranikhet. The Indian Army and Air Force helped a lot during the filming by providing real tanks, guns, uniforms and even aircraft from the 1970s. This made the war scenes look very real and powerful.

The story of the film is based on a small group of Indian soldiers posted at the Longewala post in Rajasthan. Lieutenant Major Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri (Sunny Deol) along with his brother in arms Air Force Commander Andy Bajwa (Jackie Shroff) of the 23rd Battalion Punjab Regiment reach the desert outpost of Longewala with just 120 soldiers to face the enemy. When the enemy attacks at night, they are much more in number. Around 2000 enemies and that too armed with extremely dangerous weapons. The film shows how our small number of Indian soldiers, without any special weapons and without any support, bravely fight against thousands of well-armed enemies and hold their ground until help arrives. The story also depicts the personal life of the soldiers, their longing for their families, their dreams and the pain of their families when they go to war. This mixture of action and emotion made the film very special.

Other actors of this film are Sunil Shetty, Akshay Khanna, Rakhee, Pooja Bhatt, Tabu, Puneet Issar, Sudesh Berry, Sarbani Mukherjee etc.

The music of 'Border' became a big hit, especially the song 'Sandese Aate Hain' sung by Sonu Nigam and Roop Kumar Rathod, which depicts the pain of soldiers waiting for letters from home. Today this song has become a patriotic anthem and is still hummed. Other songs like 'Mere Dushman Mere Bhai', Hamen Jab Se Mohabbat, To Chalun To Chalun, Hindustan Hindustan also became very popular.

The budget of 'Border' was around Rs 10 crore. And it grossed a total of 66 crores worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film of 1997 and an all-time blockbuster.

This film has many interesting stories behind the scenes. Sanjay Dutt was first cast for the role of Jackie Shroff, but he had to leave the film due to legal problems. Many famous actors like Ajay Devgan, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshay Kumar were approached for the role of Akshay Khanna, but all of them refused for different reasons. Sunil Shetty also refused at first, but later agreed to act in the film.

The actors were proud to get the chance to play real-life heroes and shoot at real locations (where the war took place).

Some unknown facts about 'Border' include that the Indian Army and Air Force not only provided equipment, but also taught the actors how to use the weapons and act like real soldiers. The tanks shown in the film were real T-55 tanks, and the aircraft were Hawker Hunters and MiG-21s. Director J.P. Dutta said that making 'Border' felt like fighting a real war because the scale was huge and involved a lot of hard work.

Sunny Deol played the role of Kuldeep Singh Chandpuri, a real-life Indian Army officer who was awarded the Mahavir Chakra (MVC) by the Indian Army, known for his heroic leadership in the famous Battle of Longewala.

The film is based on the real Battle of Longewala from the Indo-Pak War of 1971.

Although the number of Indian soldiers martyred during this incident was not more than 2 soldiers, its number was exaggerated in the film. J.P. Dutta's brother was an Indian Air Force pilot who died in a MiG accident in 1987, the film is dedicated to him.

While making the film, Dutta relied on his brother's diaries written about his experiences.

Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgan were also offered but they did not accept. Finally new actor Akshay Khanna was signed to play the role of Lieutenant Dharamveer.

The film was shot in real locations among the vast desert of Bikaner, apart from this, real army personnel participated in the shooting of the film and real equipment including tanks, army jeeps and other ammunition were used.

Sunny Deol appeared in the role of Sardar for the first time in this film. Some war experts said that the real-life Battle of Longewala was similar to the historical epic Battle of Thermophile, where King Leonidas of Sparta fought with a powerful Persian army of 60 to 70 thousand with only 300 soldiers.

In the real-life Battle of Longewala, 120 Indian Army soldiers defeated 3 thousand enemy forces.

The song "Sandese Aate Hain" became a huge hit and Sonu Nigam became a household name. Those days he was hosting the musical show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa on Zee TV.

During screening of the film, a fire incident took place at Uphaar Cinema in Green Park, Delhi on June 13, 1997 which killed 59 people in a cinema hall. Capt. Manjinder Singh Bhinder (61st Cavalry) of the Indian army and a horse-rider and his wife Jyot-Roop and their four-year-old son Ruskin attended the movie. When the fire broke, their was chaos in the Hall as it was pitch dark without any light. Bindra and his family could escape easily as they were very near the exit door but he and his family chose to stay back inside and help the trapped suffocating people to escape. He and his wife helped 150 people escape but himself succumbed to suffocating death with his family.

Abhay Deol, cousin of lead actor Sunny Deol, starred in the miniseries Trial by Fire (2023), based on Neelam and Shekhar Krishnamurthy's decades-long fight for justice for their two children who died in the fire.

Actor Mamik Singh was signed for the film but he left the film as he felt that JP was not treating him well.

In 2013, it was announced that JP Dutta would make a sequel to Border. But that did not happen.

The film was the debut film of Kajol and Rani Mukerji's cousin Sharbani Mukherjee.

This film marked the last time Sunny Deol and JP Dutta worked together, after which there were rumours of a rift between the two.

Anil Kapoor signed the film with great enthusiasm but his dates were clashing with the film 'Virasat' so he had to opt out.

When Suniel Shetty was approached for the film, he refused the first time. Then JP Dutta approached Armaan Kohli for the role but things did not work out. Then when he approached Shetty for the second time, he agreed to do the film.

The film was released in theatres in Canada.

The song "Hindustan Hindustan" was taken from Bill Conti's song Gonna Fly Now (Rocky Theme).

Manisha Koirala was initially signed for the film, but she later opted out.

It is reported that Juhi Chawla was first offered Tabu's role, but she declined it.

The film was released in cinemas in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The film premiered at the Raja Cinema (formerly known as the Regal Theatre), located at 3215 Kingsway Street.

The film is often remembered as India's greatest war film of all time along with Chetan Anand's Haqeeqat (1964, based on the 1962 Sino-Indian War and starring Sunny Deol's father Dharmendra).

Hip hop artist Miss Jade sampled the song "To Chalun" for her song "Get Away".

Despite the film being officially considered the best film of 1997 by critics and audiences, it lost the Filmfare Award for Best Film to Yash Chopra's Dil To Pagal Hai (1997).

"After Border, J.P. Dutta started a film called Jhelum starring Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Raveena Tandon, Juhi Chawla, Rakhi Gulzar, Jackie Shroff, Raza Murad, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Vijayendra Ghatge, Mukesh Khanna, Puneet Issar, Pradeep Singh Rawat, Deepak Tijori. But the film was shelved.

JP Dutta won his first and only Filmfare Award for Best Director for this film 'Border' which was an all-time blockbuster emerging as one of the biggest hits in the history of Indian cinema.

Vinod Khanna and Naseeruddin Shah were signed for this film in 1994 but they later left the film.

The film was retrospectively screened at the Independence Day Film Festival on 13 August 2016, jointly presented by the Indian Directorate of Film Festivals and the Ministry of Defence to commemorate the 70th Indian Independence Day.

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