Ever since the film Border released two decades ago, the film hasn’t lost its charm till date. The cinematic extravagance by J.P Dutta which is based on the Indo-Pak war of 1971 still manages to move every individual of the country.
Interestingly, the movie well captured the war and the death of the soliders and their distressed families, however, the movie has etched its name in the record of Indian cinema.
Below are the jaw-dropping facts about the film:
Border broke all the records of box office by becoming the highest grosser Bollywood film in 1997.
The film was bestowed with three National awards.
During the reign of PV Narasimha Rao who was then Prime Minister of India in 1997 was approached by Border’s director J.P. Dutta to get his consent to shoot the film, to which the prime minister replied, “This film should definitely be made.”
As a reference for filming the movie, he collected the moments mentioned in the diary of his brother who was an Indian Air Force Pilot. The film was made as a dedication to his late brother.
J.P Dutta’s first film was based on the prisoners of war titled Sarhad, however, the film never got released.
After the release of the film, the director received death threats for which he was allocated with two bodyguards who shielded him for three-four months.
Sunny Deol essayed the role of Kuldip Singh Chandpuri, an Indian Army Officer who was conferred the Maha Vir Chakra Award for his outstanding leadership and heroism in the Battle of Longewala.
Sanjay Dutt was initially roped in to play the role of Wing Commander Andy Bajwa, but he couldn’t do the role owing to his jail sentence. The role then went to Jackie Shroff.
The role of Lieutenant Dharamvir initially went to Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Akshay Kumar, Ajay Devgn and Saif Ali Khan, however, the role was finally played by Akshaye Khanna. Salman Khan refused to play the role because he wasn’t prepared for it while Aamir Khan was busy shooting for the film Ishq whereas, Saif and Akshay couldn’t do the role for the reasons unknown. On the other hand, Ajay Devgn didn’t want play the role in a multi-starrer film.
Manisha Koirala was a part of the film but she later backed out of the film.
Juhi Chawla was approached to play Kuldip Singh’s wife, however, she chose to put it down considering it as a small role in the film. The role was later played by Tabu.
The film’s shooting took place on the deserts of Bikaner which was the real location of the 1971 battle.
The Hawker Hunter aircraft which was used in the real war was also used in the film. The unit logos were also used while shooting the film.
From real war equipments like tanks, army jeeps and other arms and ammunition to real army men, the film saw the participation of all.
In 2013, J.P. Dutta announced the sequel of the movie.
[TheChamp-Sharing]
