Rachana Dubey (BOMBAY TIMES; June 19, 2017)

Two decades after Border, and nearly a decade-and a-half after Refugee and LOC: Kargil, JP Dutta is back with a new battalion ready for combat. The filmmaker's next, Paltan, is a war drama based on the Indo-China War of 1962. The director, who has also written the film and will produce it under his banner JP Films, has already found jawans who will play India's real-life war heroes. While Dutta, like his previous outings, plans to rope in actual soldiers for the movie, his Bollywood brigade includes Abhishek Bachchan, Arjun Rampal, Pulkit Samrat, Suniel Shetty, Sonu Sood, Jimmy Sheirgill, Luv Sinha, Siddhant Khapoor and Jackie Shroff.

He says, “It's time we diverted our attention to our other neighbour, who is a bigger threat than Pakistan. A mighty power in world politics, China is claiming Arunachal Pradesh as a part of its territory . Even their map shows the state as a part of their country. During the 1962 war, China took over a large part of Ladakh and feels that the remaining area belongs to it, too. It's a discussion waiting to happen, which makes my film's subject relevant.“

Plenty of films have attempted to touch upon the 1962 war, including the National Awardwinning Haqeeqat (1964), which starred Dharmendra, Balraj Sahni and Priya Rajvansh. Bring this up, and Dutta says, “People will always make comparisons. I don't know what others have done, but I'm sticking to history. This is the time to address some hard-hitting questions about the history of India's relations with China. I have the Central government's support on the project and can't wait to get started on the set.“

The film goes on floors later this year and is scheduled for a summer 2018 release.