Paltan

A pure war film is a thing of past now. The movie is highly descriptive and at the same time is high on drama too. Mr. J P Dutta tried to recreate something we have already scene in his magnum opus Border and succeeded at places. However repititive dialogues, flat acting, over enthusiastic expressions, heavy background score, and slow narration makes this movie a tough one to watch in a single go. Still the Indo-China conflict of 1967 is something every Indian should know and be proud of. The movie could have worked wonders as a TV or Web Series.

Paltan is a very poorly made film. The first half is very slow and fails to grip you whatsoever. The acting is weak, the dialogues are awful and the screenplay average. The final was scene was marginally better but couldn't recreate the epic scenes from Border.

What made Border the film it is was it's performances. Sunil Shetty and Akshaye Khanna were at the start of their careers but were able to deliver career defining roles. Then add seniors like Jackie Shroff and Sunny Deol. Unfortunately in Paltan no one really steps up. I was extremely excited when I saw Gurmeet in the film but he lacked the power the role required. Arjun Rampal was ok. Sonu Sood a little disappointing. Harshvardan Rane actually impressed me so I'm surprised he hasn't done more films. Jackie Shroff has limited scope but delivers his role fine. Luv Sinha and Sidhanth Kapoor not worth talking about. On the whole the starcaste was not up to standards. I'm not saying you have to pick Sunny Deol to make a good war film but pick better actors!

Not sure what Anu Malik was thinking when he created the music. It's so bad!!! How amazing was the music in Border, Refugee etc but this is pathetic. Shame he used Sonu Nigam for 2 songs but they were extremely poorly created.

On the whole Paltan is an extremely weak film which fails to tell an epic war story well to its audiences. JP Dutta hasn't made a good film for a very long so perhaps he needs to reconsider his strategy.

Paltan is pretty slow, is simplistic in all moments apart from those at the border, where it comes to gritty and realistic life. The relentless jostling for position, the eerie quiet in the barren plateaus of Sikkim, the reverberating hammer, driving the stake to the ground, where inch by inch, India washed the demons of 1962. Its as if you are there, and watching the action. So, unlike a Bollywood movie, things happen slowly. Therefore it's not going to be a hit. Yet, if anyone needs to understand what's happening on the LAC day in and day out at Arunachal and Ladakh, this is a must see. JP Dutta uses his motifs of letters from loved ones, calls to them, and the mandatory flashbacks, yet he doesn't quite create the magic of the iconic 'Border'.

Okay so i was excited to watch this movie when i saw the trailer. as someone who has seen a lot of hollywood war movies, i wouldnt say it was bad but wasnt good either. the clash took place for 5 long days but here it shows everything ending in one single day. it would have been better had the movie taken this into account, like LOC Kargil and continued the battle sequence for atleast 3-4 days. The directors and producers need to see how hollywood made SAVING PVT RYAN in 1998 and still tops the hollywood war movies list. The emotional back story of the soldiers could have been less and more action could have been there. Finally JP Dutta sir forgot that a good war movie requires good actors who could deliver the movie in a better way. and a lot of money and research. because it was based upon real incidents, i loved to know about a forgotten and often neglected part of our history where we were victorious and should be proud of.

I am personally a huge fan of war movies and it takes a lot for me to rate it lower. But this movie is made on the border template. Without application of thought. Same type of character building, same style of back story. And just when the tempo would get exciting, they cut the tempo with flashback or some song. Sad editing. It could have been fast and furious. But alas. All my loyalty could not make me like it.