Border 2

As Dhurandhar continues to tell cinegoers that Pakistan’s deep state views Hindus as pushovers, Border 2 arrives to underscore that the 1971 War stemmed from the neighbour’s belief that Indians are meek until confronted by Sunny Deol on the western front.

J P Dutta’s 1997 Border was equal parts a war film and a Bollywood film, with strong doses of action and emotion. Its strength came from Dutta’s penchant for patriotic cinema, and of course the elusive thing that no filmmaker knows beforehand — the fulsome embrace of the audience. Despite its occasional spurt of anti-Pakistan rhetoric, and the constant conflation of Ma and Dharti Ma, the original Border remains one of the most complete war films that Hindi cinema has made, and its musical sandese still echo in our movie memories.

In the last couple of years, the roster of Hindi cinema has been clogged with certain kinds of narratives and mostly with one kind of event: war. There has been a proliferation of war films as their rhetoric — identifying the nemesis as an “enemy”, using dialogues filled with allegories of battles — leaks into the grammar of regular dramas. It was about time that JP Dutta’s Border (1997), the original war-cry of a film centred firmly around Indian soldiers, would be reprised, and Border 2 is that.

It’s rare to see Hindi cinema offer up this neat a contrast. Three weeks ago, Sriram Raghavan’s Ikkis, a film on the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War, released in theatres. This weekend, Anurag Singh’s Border 2, also set during the 1971 War, opens in time for Republic Day. Ikkis is an interrogation of the modern Hindi war film, cheerfully swatting away stereotypes. Border 2, on the other hand, throws itself frequently on the live grenade of cliché, a martyr’s death for original thinking every scene.

It’s been nearly three decades since JP Dutta’s war classic Border was released in theatres. The film was set in 1971 and highlighted the Indian Army’s brave defence at the Battle of Longewala during the Indo-Pak war. The film, over the years, earned cult status and to date is remembered for its memorable dialogues, performances and soulful music. Border also set a template for future such war films. All mounted at a big scale, all speaking of patriotism and glorifying the valour of our Armed forces. Some worked, others were mere copies, including Dutta’s film on Kargil, called LOC. 29 years on, JP Dutta returns with Border 2, this time as a producer along with his daughter Nidhi Dutta and lets Anurag Singh direct the sequel. But is Border 2 as impactful as Border? Let’s find out.

I have two core memories from the time of J.P. Dutta’s Border (1997), the era-altering Bollywood blockbuster that made national pride an innocent household emotion two years before the Kargil War. One: a talented classmate named Rohan won the singing competition the next three years in a row by nailing the anthem-coded hit “Sandese Aate Hai”. We often ended up crooning along like rogue choir vocalists. But his pre-teen voice never faltered, towering over the auditorium without needing to understand the lyrics. They were just musical words to us. The second memory is more haunting. The final montage of the film — where newly widowed women, penniless old parents and glum relatives wait in vain — left a lasting impression on me. Most of us had enjoyed the action sequences, bloodshed, martyr-like deaths and slow-mo courage up until that moment. To be hit with the sobering price of war felt like an out-of-syllabus chapter; the sadness had no sides. I did not expect a patriotic and violent war epic to close on a slightly reflective note.