20 years of Border: Meet the ‘real’ Akshaye Khanna

The 1971 war hero, Colonel Dharam Vir, talks about the iconic film

Colonel Dharam Vir’s (top) heroic role in the 1971 Battle of Longewala was brilliantly portrayed by actor Akshaye Khanna (above) in the 1997 blockbuster film, Border, which celebrated its 20th anniversary recently. The officer, then a 22-year-old lieutenant, says that Akshaye was a good choice to play his role on screen. “I met him once in Delhi at an event. He came up to me and spoke nicely. He was very sweet. Even in the film, he was just like me... simple! Uss time pe ladke aise hi hote the. Ab toh bahut smart hain,” he laughs. The retired colonel, who now lives in Gurgaon, remembers the events that led to the making of the film as vividly as the battle. “I was commanding an infantry battalion in 1992 when JP Dutta, the director and producer of the film, came to meet me. His brother, an Air Force officer, had told him about the Air Force’s role in the battle and told him to make a movie on it. He wanted my story; I gave it. But I told him to seek permission from the Army Headquarters first. I said that all sacrifices should be acknowledged.” Colonel Dharam Vir says that he didn’t hear from JP Dutta after that, until the time around the release of the film. “I got a call from [JP Dutta] and he said that the Censor Board was not clearing his film, as I had been shown as a martyr in it. He asked me to send a fax saying I had no objection. After I did that, the film was immediately cleared by the Censor Board.” After the release of the film, many tried to incite him against Dutta. “They said he shouldn’t have killed your character. Take legal action. I told them: ‘I am a soldier, I remain a soldier and I will die a soldier. Soldiers don’t do such things. This is not a gentleman’s conduct’.” The Colonel says that he can still visualise the battle as it played out in December 1971. “It was a moonlight night. And I heard the tanks. And do you know what Brigadier Chandpuri said when I told him the attack was coming towards us? ‘Generator ki awaaz hai.’ He didn’t believe me until the guns started firing and a shell landed at Longewala. Another thing I clearly remember is spotting a helicopter and asking permission to shoot it down. He asked me, ‘Tiranga or chaand sitara?’ I said, ‘Sir, chaand sitara.’ [The helicopter] was there to evacuate an injured Pakistani major. We didn’t shoot it.”