Chetan Anand directorial ‘Haqeeqat’ was landmark Indian war film
Chetan Anand directorial ‘Haqeeqat’
was landmark Indian war film
The moral of the film is that in every defeat there is a victory, even if moral
‘Haqeeqat’ isn’t a movie. It is the template for almost every war film made in Bollywood since 1964, from ‘Border’ to the recent Tamil biographical film ‘Amaran’ (2024). Like an era that separates everything before and after it, Haqeeqat draws a defining line in Indian cinematic history.
All epic Indian war films follow ‘Haqeeqat’s stylesheet. The narrative builds with stories of an ensemble, mostly young men. As a war looms, songs of love, separation and, military-camp camaraderie follow. Eventually there is the inevitable death, in eyeball-to-eyeball conflict with a ruthless enemy.
Once, Chetan Anand, told Satyajit Ray, a war film is a mosaic – of life, love, hate and death.
In ‘Haqeeqat’, Chetan Anand crafts this mosaic with philosophical beauty, creating poetry in the middle of mayhem. He layers it with poignant moments of valour and loss, highlighted by songs that epitomise separation and sacrifice.
After this poetic build-up, two hours of raw, intense war unfold. With sweeping shots of Ladakh in black and white, the camera captures gritty gun fights and explosions over the grey landscape. Smoke rises over snow-clad mountains. Blood stains freezing streams. Hope recedes behind Buddhist temples on barren hilltops. Anand shows war’s horror and magnificence like mirror images. Despite the inherent tragedy, ‘Haqeeqat’ imagery makes you fall in love with war.
A lost war, like personal grief, is impossible to revisit. Its humiliation cuts like a shard. Its pain haunts like a silent ghost. So, it was bold of Chetan Anand, to make a film about India’s loss in the 1962 Sino-Indian war when the wound was still raw.
Anand uses the pain for catharsis, showing defiance in defeat.
Loosely inspired by the battle of Rezang La, ‘Haqeeqat’ focusses on the heroic last stand of Indian soldiers outnumbered by the Chinese at forward posts in Ladakh. On the morning of November 18, 120-150 Indian soldiers of 13 Kumaon were surrounded by the Chinese. In freezing conditions at 16,000 feet, they fought for five hours to the last man. Major Shaitan Singh, who led them in spite of sustaining multiple wounds, was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India’s highest military honour.
‘Haqeeqat’ traces the 1962 tragedy through several sub-plots.
The film’s main arc follows Major Ranjit Singh (Balraj Sahni), whose soldiers have been forced to retreat. To help him evacuate, Captain Bahadur Singh (Dharmendra) fights a heroic battle. In the climactic moments, a local girl – Anand’s lifelong muse Priya Rajvansh – joins Bahadur Singh in a till-death-do-us-part pact.
In one scene, Balraj Sahni rails against Chinese treachery, ruing India’s trust in the Himalayan neighbour and in another he spits disdainfully as the Chinese repeat
“Hindi-Chini bhai-bhai.” His diatribe, amplified by real footage, lends a docudrama edge to the film.
India’s pride was hurt by the defeat in the two-theatre war in Ladakh and NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh). Unprepared for high-terrain battles, soldiers were cut down by the Chinese, forcing a retreat and surrender. Retreat is not defeat, ‘Haqeeqat’ asserts. It is a tactical move to preserve life, to fight another day.
India’s wounded pride haunts ‘Haqeeqat’. Yet, its defiance rises in art. The film’s central theme, dialogue and music challenge the finality of defeat. The film portrays it as a mere setback from which India would eventually rise.
‘Haqeeqat’ ends with the defiant ‘Kar Chale Hum Fida’. Composed by Madan Mohan, the song burns with patriotic fervour, rivalled only by ‘Mera Rang De Basanti’- the song Bhagat Singh sings to the gallows in ‘Shaheed’ (1965). Each line of ‘Kar Chale’, penned by Kaifi Azmi, is the sound of pride, and defiance in death.
Kaifi’s words soar like the Himalayas in Mohammad Rafi’s voice, lifting the spirit like an anthem of the undefeated. In the background, Madan Mohan arranges a feast of light strings that start on a sombre note and then explode with violins and brass instruments, and a chorus that goes to war.
Just like ‘Haqeeqat’, it declares India’s steely resolve – bent but not broken.
News Edit KV Raman
