Today, 15th August 2021 marks India’s 75th Independence day and on this occasion, we would talk about a recent Bollywood release that was a tribute to the nation.
Sidharth and Kiara Advani recently released the movie Shershaah on Amazon Prime Video, based on brave soldier Vikram Batra who fought in the 1999 Kargil war.
The film talks about Vikram Batra, a young man from Palampur to the soldier who won a key victory against Pakistan-backed forces in Kashmir before he died in 1999.
Along with his bravery, Vikram was also known for his one-liners that usually left an impact. He came into the limelight after media wrote stories describing how he called into the base after capturing a crucial peak against all odds with a slogan from a popular Pepsi ad “Yeh dil maange more.”
As per reports, Apart from this, the brave soldier once refused to give Madhuri Dixit to the Pakistani soldiers. During a Ted Talk in 2017, Vikram’s brother Vishal Batra spoke about the episode at length. He revealed how some Pakistani soldiers had intercepted Vikram’s communication and tried to threaten him.
“When he was going up again, his radio was intercepted by one of the Pakistani soldiers who challenged him, told him, ‘Hey Shershaah (as was his codename), don’t come up or you’ll have a tough time.’ That was the time Vikram thought ‘how can a Pakistani challenge me?‘ And I believe true leaders are people who challenge themselves. They accept the challenge. It’s not an easy task… And that was the time that Vikram replied to this soldier that we would see in the next one hour who stays at the top. And during this course of interception by the enemy, Pakistani soldier said, ‘You know we are going to beat you. Throw you back. And we will take away one of your most famous Bollywood heroines,'” Said Vishal.
He continued, “And that was the time when Vikram said, ‘not on‘. He attacked so ferociously that he destroyed all the bunkers and before they could hoist a tricolor on the peak, Vikram lobbed a hand-grenade very softly and said, ‘To all of you with love, from Madhuri Dixit‘.”
Vikram has been awarded the Param Vir Chakra award and was killed in a crossfire while trying to save a colleague.