*Story*
Line of Control (LOC) is the story of the Kargil War of 1999, more specifically the individual stories of a few of the soldiers who fought and died for their country. The Line of control is basically the borderline between India and Pakistan and both nations have posts on either side monitoring and defending the borders. The film starts of with several of the Indian posts being captured what at first seems by certain militant groups but later on the army learns that the Pakistan army is either involved in the capture or backing it because of the artillery with which the enemy is attacking. Several battalions are sent off to take care of the situation. But these soldiers face an incredibly challenging and dangerous task since they have no idea how the enemy is positioned or how many of them there are. In addition, the hilly terrain is harsh. The soldiers have to attack uphill while the enemy has the advantage of surveying the Indian soldiers from a height therefore knowing exactly how many and how strong they are.
With such a challenge facing them, the Indian army soldiers face an almost impossible war that they MUST win in order to protect the borders of Kashmir and the country. There are three main battalions: the Gorkhas, 18 Grenadiers, 13 Jakrif. And each is assigned to capture a vital post. The film tries to tell the true stories of many of the soldiers who fought and died doing their duty.
*Review*
I went into the theater expecting a good war movie since I read quite a few good reviews. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The true story on which this film is based is one of courage and sacrifice. In any case, it is a noble effort to remember those heroes who gave up so much for the people of their country to be safe and continue living their lives. But for the most part I was lost. It took me about half the film to get straight who was in what battalion and even now haven't understood which hill they were trying to take.
I had heard about the Kargil war, but knew nothing of the details or locations going into this film. I wish that the director had used some sort of map to explain where each battalion was located and what hill they were trying to take. This would have also been a good transition from one battalion setting to another. The only visible map was the one in the General(the guy giving the orders)'s office on which I could only make out Kargil and a few red and blue lines. Also a few aerial views of the hills during the actual battles could have helped as well. But I do understand the absence of the latter because it effectively conveyed how in the dark the soldiers were and basically didn't know what evil lay ahead.
Technically the film is quite good. However the scenes moving from battalion to battalion and story to story were sometimes abrupt and crude. The background music is loud and obtrusive ruining some good emotional scenes. The songs for the most part are unnecessary except for the last one which had moving lyrics.
The whole romantic thing was utterly ridiculous. Apparently the minds of the characters were programmed to think of their loved ones in a row, one after the other. Which became even more redundant as they basically exchanged the same few sentences. And then right before the last big battle, everyone calls home in a row. The scenes had nothing to offer in terms of emotional quotient since they were all very generic. The loved ones track was done much better in Border. I think J.P.Dutta was a little too ambitious in trying to tell so many stories and finding that he had to give each character a sweetheart and some cheesy love story. Also the relationships between soldiers is probably the single most important aspect of a war movie and the most touching as well. The director tried to create scenes that would establish this but they mostly seemed forced and in consequence many of the death scenes weren't as effective as they could have been.
The performances were below average to decent. Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan and Manoj Bajpai were good. Ashutosh Rana and Abhishek Bachchan went a little overboard but were otherwise alright. The girls had no parts really, and thankfully so, the little they had was already much more than I could bear. All except for Rani Mukherjee (as Hema, Devgan's fiance) who was good. Every thing related to Ajay Devgan was good actually.
If you think my review is long, you may not make it through the 4 1/2 hour LOC. In conclusion, the strength of the movie comes from the strength of the real story. But what I took away was, in the heart-rending words of the last song: "Bas Itnaa Yaad Rahe Ek Saathi Aur Bhi Tha."
Line of Control (LOC) is the story of the Kargil War of 1999, more specifically the individual stories of a few of the soldiers who fought and died for their country. The Line of control is basically the borderline between India and Pakistan and both nations have posts on either side monitoring and defending the borders. The film starts of with several of the Indian posts being captured what at first seems by certain militant groups but later on the army learns that the Pakistan army is either involved in the capture or backing it because of the artillery with which the enemy is attacking. Several battalions are sent off to take care of the situation. But these soldiers face an incredibly challenging and dangerous task since they have no idea how the enemy is positioned or how many of them there are. In addition, the hilly terrain is harsh. The soldiers have to attack uphill while the enemy has the advantage of surveying the Indian soldiers from a height therefore knowing exactly how many and how strong they are.
With such a challenge facing them, the Indian army soldiers face an almost impossible war that they MUST win in order to protect the borders of Kashmir and the country. There are three main battalions: the Gorkhas, 18 Grenadiers, 13 Jakrif. And each is assigned to capture a vital post. The film tries to tell the true stories of many of the soldiers who fought and died doing their duty.
*Review*
I went into the theater expecting a good war movie since I read quite a few good reviews. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The true story on which this film is based is one of courage and sacrifice. In any case, it is a noble effort to remember those heroes who gave up so much for the people of their country to be safe and continue living their lives. But for the most part I was lost. It took me about half the film to get straight who was in what battalion and even now haven't understood which hill they were trying to take.
I had heard about the Kargil war, but knew nothing of the details or locations going into this film. I wish that the director had used some sort of map to explain where each battalion was located and what hill they were trying to take. This would have also been a good transition from one battalion setting to another. The only visible map was the one in the General(the guy giving the orders)'s office on which I could only make out Kargil and a few red and blue lines. Also a few aerial views of the hills during the actual battles could have helped as well. But I do understand the absence of the latter because it effectively conveyed how in the dark the soldiers were and basically didn't know what evil lay ahead.
Technically the film is quite good. However the scenes moving from battalion to battalion and story to story were sometimes abrupt and crude. The background music is loud and obtrusive ruining some good emotional scenes. The songs for the most part are unnecessary except for the last one which had moving lyrics.
The whole romantic thing was utterly ridiculous. Apparently the minds of the characters were programmed to think of their loved ones in a row, one after the other. Which became even more redundant as they basically exchanged the same few sentences. And then right before the last big battle, everyone calls home in a row. The scenes had nothing to offer in terms of emotional quotient since they were all very generic. The loved ones track was done much better in Border. I think J.P.Dutta was a little too ambitious in trying to tell so many stories and finding that he had to give each character a sweetheart and some cheesy love story. Also the relationships between soldiers is probably the single most important aspect of a war movie and the most touching as well. The director tried to create scenes that would establish this but they mostly seemed forced and in consequence many of the death scenes weren't as effective as they could have been.
The performances were below average to decent. Ajay Devgan, Saif Ali Khan and Manoj Bajpai were good. Ashutosh Rana and Abhishek Bachchan went a little overboard but were otherwise alright. The girls had no parts really, and thankfully so, the little they had was already much more than I could bear. All except for Rani Mukherjee (as Hema, Devgan's fiance) who was good. Every thing related to Ajay Devgan was good actually.
If you think my review is long, you may not make it through the 4 1/2 hour LOC. In conclusion, the strength of the movie comes from the strength of the real story. But what I took away was, in the heart-rending words of the last song: "Bas Itnaa Yaad Rahe Ek Saathi Aur Bhi Tha."