Movie Review: 120 Bahadur

 “Not a single blade of grass grows here, yet this land is precious to us, as it was to those who made India possible,” declares Farhan Akhtar. He plays the daredevil Major Shaitan Singh Bhatti. We know he is the hero, as we hear of him before we see him, the camera fram­ing him from the back, a sunlit halo around him.

The camera then pans to his front, revealing him slowly as the man who has no fear as he faces a sniper from across the border. The film continues as it began, with sharp sketches of some of the 120 Bahadur, fated to face 3,000 Chinese soldiers in what came to be known as the Battle of Rezang La. There is an elegiac note from the beginning, not least because of the sombre voiceover from Amitabh Bachchan. Given the tri­umphalism of recent war/terror films, it is rare to find a film that celebrates valour in failure. Not all wars are won; some are fought to test a nation’s fortitude.

As the officers try to make soldiers out of farm­ers’ boys who only know how to work in their fathers’ farms, there is the unfortunate truth: those who fight for us are often the most underserved by the country, the least privileged but the bravest. And though they may be led by men, they are mere boys, who sacrifice their lives so we can live freely.