Movie Review: 120 Bahadur

When telling a war story, one always risks entering a space that may seem repetitive. Typical war movies follow a familiar template: the introduction of the hero, the call of duty, the challenge, an emotional interlude to humanise the soldier amidst the gunfire, and finally, sacrifice and honour. But that is the risk one ought to take when choosing to tell the stories of the brave—especially a story like that of Major Shaitan Singh Bhati and his troops, who fought the Battle of Rezang La in 1962.

Director Razneesh Ghai’s 120 Bahadur employs all the tropes of a war movie. He introduces the hero in style—one body part at a time—before cutting to happier times to show the protagonist’s soft, familial side. There is even a Holi song, battalion banter, and wartime bravado. And yet, it manages to stand out.

One of the distinguishing factors is the lack of chest-thumping dialogue or overt jingoism. Writer Sumit Arora does not load the film with the Bollywood-style dialogue-baazi popularised by many earlier epics. The characters are more rooted, all belonging to the same community—many even from the same village. Complementing this is the director’s use of mellow background music; Ghai avoids the deafening scores typically aimed at manipulating emotions. Perhaps he realised he didn’t need to—his protagonist is the stuff of legends.

120 Bahadur stands tall due to its technical polish, barring two scenes with subpar VFX featuring Chinese troops. Fortunately, those scenes pass quickly without hampering the film’s impact. The movie is shot beautifully by Japanese cinematographer Tetsuo Nagata, who utilises the Ladakh terrain to the optimum, and is slickly edited by Rameshwar Bhagat. The battle scenes are intense and elaborate, almost making the audience feel each death—all 120 of them—in detail.

Farhan Akhtar justifies his portrayal of Shaitan Singh Bhati with a demeanour that commands authority; he deals more in action than in words. The rest of the cast also have their moments.

The 1962 War is not a conflict India tends to boast about in the same way we discuss the 1971 War; it was a loss for the country. However, battles like Rezang La stand out as marvellous episodes of triumph even within that defeat, and they deserve to be discussed more. In that regard, 120 Bahadur will always be on my list of recommended war movies. It is a heartfelt tribute to the heroes who fell.

120 Bahadur is available on Prime Video in India.

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