Movie Review: Lakshya
It’s about a soldiers journey from a rich boy, Karan, with no goals or purpose in life to a battlefield hero in the Indian Military, stationed in Kashmir during the Kargil War in 1999.
The movie switches between the present; Karan in the Kargil war, and the past; Karan living at home with no job or goals in life before joining the military.
It can feel pretty long in some places, there are a few song & dance scenes in place, and the romantic relationship between Karan and Romila (journalist and ex-girlfriend) seems overly dramatic.
That being said, I learned a lot about a war I had never heard of and how Pakistan behaves as a military force, and how tough it is for India to protects its border when you know they type of neighbours they have and the tough conditions in the Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh area.
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7.19 — IMDB
3h 6min
2004
Hindi
Director: Farhan Akhtar
Writers: Javed Akhtar
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, Preity Zinta, Amitabh Bachchan
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Recap
In the present time Karan is a soldier with the Punjab forces placed in Kashmir who plays a vital part of the Kargil War with Pakistan in 1999 (‘Op Vijay’). In the past time Karan is a young man with no goals or ambitions in his life, living comfortably in his parents house and passing time hanging out with friends. Once they start to get their life together, Karan feels it’s time for him to do the same and enrols in the Military Academy, against his fathers wishes. His father prefers he gets a degree and become more like his brother, who is living and working in the US.
LoC — Line of Control
This is the military boundary that divides India and Pakistan in Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh, also knowns as the ‘cease-fire line’, established in 1972. This was the line Pakistan crossed which lead to the The Kargal War. It was only fought in a few months in mid-1999 and it’s very interesting to also have learned how India, the world’s largest democracy, protects its borders.
Pakistan
While India’s military is concerned about protecting its existing borders, Pakistan has the objective to take control over Kashmir completely. They are planning to do so by crossing the LoC and controlling new important posts/locations, and then fight off India long enough for the world to meddle by demanding a cease-fire, which means Pakistan would have sat put in their new areas. However, history shows that US pressured Pakistan in the end to release the areas India hadn’t already taken back.
There is also references and images that shows how Pakistan fights; dropping dirty bombs, mutilating bodies, pretending it’s not their soldiers but extremist from Kashmir (later debunked due to document evidence). India on the other hand provides a proper burial for the fallen enemies and is concerned with fighting honestly.
Kashmir, Jammu, Ladakh
This whole area has been full of conflicts for decades and can’t be recapped in the film. However, you can read more about recent events from 2019 here, which was Modi’s doing, and in 2020 here, when China attacked a base near their border and killed 20 soldiers. It’s worth reading up on this area history separately.
Other take-aways
The relationship between the father and son is portrayed very beautifully, with both showing lots of emotions (this never happens in the same way in Hollywood films..).
India is a vast country with lots of different cultures, religion, languages, all coming together to protect India from intruders (‘Jai Hind’ — Victory to India). At one point, a Sikh warrior is fighting off two Pakistani, which is something I’ve heard about; Sikhs are very good warriors.
Last but not least, Amitabh portraying Col. Sunil Damle, is a well-known Hollywood actor with roles dating back to the 60s. First I saw him was in Piku — review to come!
You can watch this movie on Netflix.
My review in Norwegian can be found here.
