India and China’s military clash that took place at Galwan Valley in June 2020 has caught the attention of many filmmakers. While Salman Khan is headlining Apoorva Lakhia’s Battle of Galwan, actor Rahul Roy’s film LAC Battle of Galwan is streaming on YouTube. Now, mid-day has learnt that producer and businessman Himalay Dassani — husband of Maine Pyar Kiya (1989) actor Bhagyashree — is offering a retelling with Vir Chakra awardee Sepoy Gurtej Singh’s story at the centre. Tentatively titled The Lion of Galwan, the movie will see Himalay’s son Abhimanyu Dassani, who featured in Meenakshi Sundareshwar (2021), step into the martyr’s role.
Gurtej Singh and Himalay Dassani
“It’s the life story of Sepoy Gurtej Singh. I was intrigued, so I traced his family down to his village, Mansa, in Punjab, and acquired Gurtej’s biopic rights from his parents,” begins Himalay, elaborating, “The story will be divided into three parts — Gurtej’s early days, the Galwan skirmish, and the stance that the Indian government took against the Chinese incursions.”
Battle of Galwan show the same chapter
On the night of June 15, 2020, Singh’s unit was deployed in eastern Ladakh close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), when rising tensions between the Indian and Chinese armies led to a violent clash that was fought using sticks and clubs. Colonel Bikkumalla Santosh Babu, commanding officer of 16 Bihar regiment, Singh, and 18 other soldiers were martyred. Himalay reveals that research on the project is underway. “We have two teams in Chandigarh and Delhi doing research with the cooperation of the various ministries, government, and the Indian Army. We will also cover how the foreign and defence ministries cooperated on that night, how our brave boys battled it out bare-handed in that icy night. The shoot will begin in Ladakh early next year.” He is currently in talks with three directors, of whom one will be finalised soon.
LAC Battle of Galwan
Mention that Khan’s Battle of Galwan focuses on the same episode, and Himalay is unperturbed. He reasons, “It’s like making a movie on the Indo-Pak war. There are so many angles and stories to each battle. It will be great to see Salman essay Colonel Santosh Babu. We cannot shoot before early 2026 because it will be freezing during the winters. That will also give us time to work more on our film.”
26 January, 2021
When Sepoy Gurtej Singh was posthumously awarded the Vir Chakra