Hindi-chini why-why?

the street and Dutta sets the stage for a loud war film.

In the next scene, Arjun Rampal, a Lieutenant Colonel, tells Jackie Shroff, a Major General, that he is his new idol, after Field Marshal Montgomery. A taciturn Shroff places his elbow on his knee and his chin on his arm — as if posing for a portrait painter — and goes, “I’m no hero”. The on-field action is occasionally punctuated with trademark JP Dutta flashbacks, of wives back home among verdant farmlands, and these feel as overtly manipulative as they sound. The soldiers speak exclusively in idioms. Sonu Sood, playing a tough major, says things like “weapons are a soldier’s limbs” and “soldiers don’t fight because of hate for the other army, but love for the ones they leave behind”, in consecutive sentences, halting only to throw around the word “yaara” an awful lot.

Paltan is based on an intriguing dispute, a one-day crossfire that ended with China waving the white flag — impressive, considering their crushing victory over India in 1962. However, Dutta saves all the action for a climactic push after subjecting us to two hours of clenched jaws, boots on gravel and bad dialogue. What is the point to this overarching dullness?

Dutta has nothing new to offer after his 1997 hit Border, which made a few stars look good in uniform. Much can be said about the futility of war, and Dutta has made his case for the futility of the war movie.