In the recent past, Bollywood rolled out several films which talked about patriotism and had a nationalistic fervour to them. Adding its name to the list is ‘Battalion 609’, a film which revolves around a cricket match between Indian Army and the Pakistan army gone wrong and narrates the tale of the brave soldiers of Battalion 609 putting up a fight with the mighty Taliban. Interestingly, this film hits the theatres on the same date as ‘Uri The Surgical Strike’, another film which has patriotic/nationalistic undertones to it.
The cast of the film comprises of several talented actors including television heartthrob Shoaib Ibrahim who makes his big screen debut with this film. Though the film talks about the tension prevailing between India and Pakistan, it has an underlying layer of humour in it and does not use a preachy way to convey the message. Apart from army, patriotism and the love for one’s country, the film talks about something which both India and Pakistan are passionate about – cricket.
This year itself, a film like ‘Raazi’ was lauded for its sensitive portrayal of the relationship between India and Pakistan. Just like that film, ‘Battalion 609’, too, talks about the issue in a very responsible manner while using humour as a tool to educate the audience about several issues which both the countries are a victim of.
Written and directed by Brijesh Batuknath Tripathi and produced by Naraindas Lalwani of N.J Lalwani Films, ‘Battalion 609’ releases on 11 January, 2019 worldwide.