Border, directed by JP Dutta and premiered in 1997, became the blueprint for Indian war films for years to come, to the extent where even the director himself couldn’t escape its shadow.
In a 2018 interview, he admitted that he is ‘hurt’ by how successful the film became, because that is all he is remembered for, while the rest of his filmography is essentially ignored. As audiences settle in to watch two new war movies this Independence Day weekend — Sidharth Malhotra-starrer Shershaah and Ajay Devgn-led Bhuj: The Pride of India — here’s a throwback to what JP Dutta once said about his movie.
Asked about Border’s enduring popularity, he told Bollywood Hungama, “Border gives me a little frustration. Because I’ve done so many films over the years, but I’m only known for Border. That hurts.”
When it was brought up that the film is played on TV every Independence Day, the director said, “See, this hurts me. You don’t talk about LOC: Kargil. This hurts me, because I worked the hardest on that film, very, very hard. And to actually take a decision that I will not cut down the film from four hours to three hours, in itself was a huge decision that I had to make, commercially, because of the fact that I had met every officer’s parents, who had died, who were alive. Met them, spoke to them, about their child… And after having met all of them, I did not have the heart to cut them out of the film… This is what hurts me; Border, Border, Border, Border, but what about LOC: Kargil.”
Border, starring an ensemble cast that included Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty, Akshaye Khanna and others, became one of the biggest hits of the year. LOC: Kargil starred Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Abhishek Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, and others. JP Dutta’s most recent war film was Paltan.
