Vivek Anand Oberoi has announced Balakot: The True Story, a trilingual project to be produced in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. According to a press release, the film will go into production by the end of 2019, and will be shot in Agra, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir. The film will depict the “true facts, story and bravery of the Indian Air Force and their quick thinking, strategic planning with a strong political willingness”, the press release said.
On February 14, 40 personnel belonging to the Indian Central Reserve Police Force died in suicide bombing in Kashmir’s Pulwama district. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Pakistani group Jaish-e-Mohammed. Fourteen days later, Indian Air Force jets crossed the Line of Control and dropped bombs on Pakistan’s Balakot, where a Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp reportedly existed.
An aerial battle the next day led to an Indian MiG-21 plane being shot down in Pakistani territory. Its pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was captured and kept in Pakistan for 60 hours before being released. Abhinandan was awarded the Vir Chakra gallantry award on August 15.
Claiming that Balakot: The True Story will clear all doubts surrounding the impact of the Balakot airstrike, Oberoi said, “There was a lot that was speculated and spoken about back then; this film will put all of that to rest, once and for all.”
Oberoi played Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Omung Kumar’s biopic PM Narendra Modi this year. The hagiography largely deviated from reports that chronicled the political rise of Modi.
Also making claims of providing untold truths is director Vivek Agnihotri. On August 14, he announced The Kashmir Files, which will tell “the unreported story of the most tragic and gut-wrenching genocide of Kashmiri Hindus”.
The film is set for a release on August 15, 2020. Agnihotri had previously made The Tashkent Files. The film revolved around the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri in 1966 following the signing of the Tashkent Agreement between India and Pakistan to end the 1965 War.
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