Lt. Col. Lalit Rai is addressing his troops from the Gorkha Rifles.
Their task at hand - Drive away intruders from LOC - is tough, but he brings on to the attention of his men, how rulers of the world have regarded them as one of the fiercest warriors in the world, coveted by the likes of Adolf Hitler.
In his booming, electrifying monologue he impresses upon them the regiments past glories and how they fervently believed that it was a matter of personal honor to kill the enemy before they killed you.
The bristling with spirit, ready to kill, regiment responds with their war-cry JAI MAA KAALI
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This scene in LOC sets the tone of this thrilling movie and has one hooked in its opening few minutes itself.
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LOC - a cinematic representation of the Kargil conflict
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This gritty battle, which won India the crucial heights of Kargil, was the fiercest and the most intense operation undertaken by the Indian Army. Towards the end it was a stiff, bunker to bunker battle, which our men was fought at man to man combat level braving enemy bullets to kill them, resorting to even khukris once their guns gave way. The war was slow and costly by human casualties.
LOC attempts a cinematic dramatization of a few episodes of the Indo-Pak Kargill war. There is obviously no documentary or even journalistic precision in the movie and has expectedly resorted to many cinematic liberties, given the medium and the tendency of our directors to bow down to commercial demands.
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Where were the grim realities of battle?
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Our brave men won this battle in an inhumanly difficult terrain. This was compounded by health hazards, the extreme and torturous climate conditions, the biting ice, blizzards, and at times zero vision. Receipt of food and ammunition re-supplies all was erratic.
The boys were not even given enough time to acclimate to the altitude, let alone fight, kill and rout the enemy in such extreme combat conditions. They were packed off to defend our LOC with an absolute lack of cold weather equipment, without even something as perfunctory as night-vision devices.
One only wishes that the movie had dwelled more into the hardships the soldiers faced. Sadly, none of this, which indeed would have brought a lump in the audiences' throats, is depicted.
Instead, ample footage devoted to how mehboobas/mothers/wives are missed by a few rosy faced, heavily facialed, cherubic glamour boys like Saif Ali Khan (hopelessly hopelessly miscast), Bikram Saluja, Himanshu Malik and Amar Upadhyay trying their best to look hassled. These Pretty boys should rather stick to working in sissy movies like Kal Ho Na Ho.
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Melodrama & Repetitions
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A cycle of repetitions follows in the manner in which the conflicts are portrayed:-
Soldier walks – soldier goes into flashback mode - soldier gets senti – soldier remembers sobbing sweetheart while dying -
this for each of the 20 odd heroes. 20 times over and over again? Whatever for?
The line up of pretty ladies, added as a forced afterthought to increase the movie’s marketability, don’t merit even a one word mention; except for the comic relief provided by Esha Deol and Kareena Chameli Kapoor (Are these two crying? Or are they hiccoughing? Or maybe suppressing a sneeze? Can someone tell me please?)
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LOC wins over its audience, But only in parts
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LOC, otherwise has an ensemble star cast, among whom the ones that stand out are Purru Raj Kumar (surprised?), Mohnish Behl, Manoj Bajpai, Ajay Devgan, and Sanjay Kapoor (surprised again?).
To give its movie its real due, the battle scenes are all edge-of-the-seat THRILLING. Couple this with the excellent cinematography and blast-your-ears sound effects, making LOC totally paisa vasool stuff for action buffs.
The charging motivational speeches that the Commanding Officers give their soldiers before each combat is stirring stuff. It is in these sections that Sudesh Berry (his opening speech in the first few minutes is stuff that gives one the gooseflesh) Kiran Kumar and to a certain extent Sanjay Dutt shine. Makes you want to get up and shout, “Go guys!! Give it good to those mother$#%$#@ intruders!”
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Yet, watching LOC without getting exasperated requires immense patience, blame the 4 hour running time for that. The movie is soon going to be trimmed to the more tolerable 3 hours, I hope they do away with all those pathetic sobbing women.
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Despite all its shortcomings, does LOC entertain? does LOC move you? should LOC be seen?
YES, go watch it BUT - only after it is trimmed.
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