Abhay Deol-Mahesh Manjrekars web series on Indo-China war preponed to cash in on the anti-China sentiment

17 Sep 2020

The blockbuster success of Uri The Surgical Strike (2019), starring Vicky Kaushal, has revived the interest of the filmmakers in making patriotic films or series. Post the success of this film, many announcements were made of war films based on real-life incidents. Though the films on Balakot Air Strike and Galwan Valley clash have been announced and well promoted, not many knew that one more significant venture got made discreetly sans noise. The project in question is a web series, based on the 1962 India-China war and stars Abhay Deol in the lead. Directed by Mahesh Manjrekar, it has been titled 1962.A source close to the project says, is a web series shot on a grand scale and depicts the happenings of the war in great detail. At the same time, director Mahesh Manjrekar has managed to make it entertaining and engaging. Abhay Deol, Sumeet Vyas and other actors have done a commendable job as actors. Its something to watch out for.There were reports in the trade that is going to release next year, on Disney+ Hotstar. But the source insists that itll be out earlier, in November this year. He informs, is expected to be out once the IPL gets over in the second week of November. The makers feel this is the right time to release as the anti-China sentiment is quite high in the country right now. The reason for this sentiment is because of the clash between the soldiers of both the countries that occurred on June 15 and 16 at Galwan Valley after Chinese forces objected to Indian road construction in the region. The conflict has still not ended and it has led to widespread anger against the neighbouring country among the residents of India.Incidentally, the war between India and China in 1962 also arose out of a dispute regarding the border. It began on October 20, 1962 and ended a month later after China declared a ceasefire. is not the first venture to be based on this battle. Dharmendra-starrer Haqeeqat (1964) was also based on this episode and is remembered today especially for its moving song 'Ab Tumhare Hawaale Watan Saathiyon'.Interestingly, the media got no whiff about the shooting of while it was being shot. The only indication that Abhay Deol and Mahesh Manjrekar are collaborating for a Hotstar web series is when in November 2019, the former posted a picture with the latter. It showed both sleeping and Abhay Deols funny caption was 'I finally did it. I slept with my director'.