On a war footing

Director J.P. Dutta, who's best known for his gritty takes of valour on the battlefield, returns to the big screen with the larger-than-life Paltan based on the 1967 Nathu La pass conflicts. Here's checking out Dutta's oeuvre

There's at least one departure in Bollywood from the Hollywood norm. The latter continues to produce blockbusters about valour on the battlefield without any let-up. By contrast, war films are a rarity in India's prime showtown, perhaps because their budgets can rocket sky high, the script research has to be detailed and authentic, and a go-ahead by the Censor Board can be iffy. And more crucially, the audience isn't always receptive to films that have a twist of sobriety and gravitas.
Of course, there has been a clutch of memorable war films in the past - notably Chetan Anand's black-and-white Haqeeqat (1964), which was also remarkable for its still-resonant music score by Madan Mohan (can anyone forget Ab tumhare hawaale watan saathiyon, Hoke majboor mujhe and Zara si aahat?). Yet, it wasn't received well at the box office. Neither was the filmmaker's Hindustan Ki Kasam (1973).
Through time, there have been discouraging results for J. Om Prakash's Aakraman (1975) right down to Farhan Akhtar's Lakshya (2004). Relatively, The Ghazi Attack (2017), made in Telugu and Hindi about the mysterious sinking of a hostile country's submarine, fetched acclaim and satisfactory ticket sales, courtesy its special effects and nationalist fervour.
However, there's a director and oftentimes the producer who has stood tall in the war zone down the decades. Over, then, to Jyoti Prakash Dutta (more familiarly known as J.P. Dutta) - whose name has been associated with elaborately-orchestrated dramas with a war conflict as the centrepiece.
Arguably, Border (1997), sourced from the Battle of Longewala during the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971, is his career-best. Featuring an ensemble cast, led by Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty, Raakhee Gulzar and Tabu, the acting honours were stolen by the then-fresher Akshaye Khanna in the role of an angst-ridden army officer. In addition, the Anu Malik-composed song Sandese aate hain, written by Javed Akhtar, had become anthemic.
His LoC Kargil (2003) paled by comparison, coercing him to opt for a retake on Umrao Jaan (2006) toplining Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. This costume extravaganza proved to be a clinker, partly because the director wasn't in form, and partly because it was compared unfavourably to the earlier Muzaffar Ali version of the travails of the legendary courtesan enacted unforgettably by Rekha.
Undaunted, the 68-year-old Dutta is now poised to return with the genre he's known for. Titled Paltan, the film, based on the 1967 clashes at Nathu La across the Sikkim border in the wake of the 1962 Sino-Indian war, is scheduled for release on September 7. This time, the ensemble is led by Jackie Shroff, Arjun Rampal and Sonu Sood. Incidentally, Abhishek Bachchan, whom the director introduced to the screen along with Kareena Kapoor in Refugee (2000), dropped out of the project at the last minute. Miffed, Dutta didn't retaliate harshly on being quizzed about the actor's exit, except for the terse statement, "I don't know. Ask the Bachchans."
Indeed, J.P. Dutta has sought to remain unfazed throughout his career, even shelving his debut film Sarhad, featuring Vinod Khanna and Mithun Chakraborty back in 1977. Khanna was playing truant since he had taken off for the Osho farm in Oregon, United States. Vis-à-vis Bachchan Jr's snub, the director merely replaced him instantaneously with the little-known actor Harshvardhan Rane.
The director may have mellowed but hasn't lost a shred of his no-nonsense attitude. In fact, the first time I met him was on the sets of Hathyar (1989) at the request of his publicity agent Gopal Pandey. "Look, I don't want to change for the better or worse," he had stated strongly rightaway. "I have to handle a huge cast of actors: Dharmendra, Rishi Kapoor and Sanjay Dutt. If Sanju shows up late or doesn't focus on his work, I'm bound to lose my cool. If I'm called hot-tempered, so be it. Mr Pandey may want you to make me sound like a little lamb. Let me tell you, I'm not. Lambs don't make movies."
His debut film Ghulami (1985), followed by Yateem (1988), Batwara (1989), Hathyar (1989) and Kshatriya (1993) dealt in various degrees with the persistence of the feudal order in post-independent India, and the clash between the upper strata and the underprivileged. Technically brilliant and narrated with a strong script sense - in no small measure contributed by his father, the veteran film writer O.P. Dutta - his early films, according to me, remain his most accomplished works.
On the eve of launching Border, he had told me in the course of a conversation that he'd been waiting to start on this long-nurtured subject. Reason: his brother, an Air Force pilot, had lost his life in action. "Our family has never recovered from the loss," he had added. "And I have listened to so many true-life stories of our defence forces that I can't keep the story of Border suppressed within me any more."
Seemingly open to discussion, however, he couldn't quite swallow my critical review of Refugee. The PR agent re-materialised, saying Dutta saab would like to meet me at his office. I did, only to be subjected to a harangue about, "What do critics know?", with quite a few expletives thrown in. Naturally, I left the office as politely as I could, and wasn't called for the press show of LoC Kargil.
He's only human, I told myself, like the rest of showbiz that loves to be heaped with bouquets but bristles at the very notion of criticism. Years later, I met him at a dinner hosted for a high-placed army officer headquartered in New Delhi. The "what do critics know?" incident was forgotten, mercifully, and he embraced me like a long-lost friend.
So, as he had confirmed, J.P. Dutta can lose his cool but not for long. Next month, he'll be back at the multiplexes with Paltan. And I suspect it'll be one more statement from his heart in the memory of his brother who couldn't return from the war zone.
Play it again, Mr Dutta.
wknd@khaleejtimes.com