Abhishek Dudhaiya's Bhuj: The Pride Of India is all set to release on Disney+Hotstar on 13 August. The trailer, which looks like a prototype of an Indian war-movie, has been out for nearly a month. It starts with a disclaimer stating that “the film is a tribute to the Indian Armed Forces”, and is in no way an official account of any real-life event or actual battles fought by the Indian Armed Forces. The trailer, however, makes it obvious that the storyline is inspired heavily by the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.
The lesser-known story behind the film goes back to 8 December 1971, during the Indo-Pak War, also referred to as the Bangladesh Liberation War, under the leadership of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
The hostilities between the two nations started off on 3 December with pre-emptive airstrikes by the Pakistani Air Force on 11 Indian airfields. A squadron of Pakistani planes dropped 14 napalm bombs on the Bhuj airstrip. The devastation continued for two weeks, with relentless attacks by bombs and rockets.
With every passing day, the damage multiplied. The airstrip was ruined and the Indian fighter planes could not take off. The labour from the Border Security Forces (BSF) for the repair of the runway was not enough. It was in this hour of panic that 300 people, most of them women, stepped in from the nearby village of Madhapur to serve their bit.
The women had donned green sarees in order to camouflage and worked through the nights. Whenever an alarm was elicited, the women would take shelter in the bushes and the wild. 72 hours later, the airstrip was finally repaired, and the IAF combat jets could take off.
The war concluded with the fall of Dhaka and the surrender of Pakistani forces on 16 December, 1971. This day is also observed as ‘Vijay Diwas in India.
This story is unknown to many and it would be interesting to watch how the film represents it.
The trailer says that the film is a celebration of 50 years of India’s 1971 victory. It overflows with frames typical to military movies and dialogues high on patriotism. The "We Failed" at the beginning of the trailer metamorphoses into "We Retaliated" by the end. There are punches of Sarfaroshi ki tamanna and ample doses of promises of the sacrifice made to the country.
Apart from Ajay Devgn, who plays the IAF squadron leader Vijay Karnik, the film’s cast will see Sanjay Dutt in the pivotal role of Indian Army Scout Ranchordas Pagi. Nora Fatehi plays a spy while Sonakshi Sinha is seen as the village dweller mobilising the women.
Bhuj is produced under the banner of Select Media Holdings.
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