1962 Web Series Review: This untold story of our brave soldiers could have been told in better way
1962 Web Series Review: 2 stars
Just watched 1962: The War In The Hills web series on Disney Plus Hotstar VIP. So let’s analyze the cast, release date, story, positive/negatives and at last my personal view on this web series.
Cast: Abhay Deol, Mahie Gill, Sumeet Vyas, Divyansh Mishra, Akash Thosar, Rohan Gandotra, Bijou Thaangjam, Meiyang Chang, Liao Meng Chi & Anup Soni
Director: Mahesh Manjrekar
Release Date: 26th Feb 2021 (On Disney Plus Hotstar VIP)
Duration: 10 Episodes/ 25 Minutes
Story: Series is fictionalizes a Sino-Indian battle from nearly six decades ago. It highlights the valor of a dauntless band of Indian infantrymen – most of them from a single village near Rewari, Haryana while highlighting the enormous human cost of armed conflict through the stories of brave women who kept their chins up through the wart.
It is June 1962. Major Suraj Singh (Abhay Deol) is posted in Baramulla, where he lives with his wife Shagun (Mahie Gill) and daughter Neelam (Sammaera Jaiswal). The war is about to break out. The major and his battalion are in readiness to confront the Chinese forces. Soon the village sees off all its able-bodied young men. After the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, Shagun Singh, now a sick old woman, narrates the saga of the battle at Rezang La (in the film the place is Saksha La).
For the first few episodes, we get to meet the members of the battalion, who hail from the village of Rewari. After winning an annual competition at camp, they get days off to visit their family. Away from the war, filled with love, heartbreak and responsibilities, life goes on. Kishan (Akash Thosar), son of a grass-cutter, is in love with Radha (Hemal Ingle) who is a school teacher’s daughter. The latter’s elder sister Jaya (Pallavi Kulkarni) is married to the village headman’s elder son. Pramukh’s younger son Karan (Rohan Gandotra) requests his sister-in-law Jaya to convince Radha to marry him.
That translates into a love triangle involving two army men and heartbreak and this love affair again diverts the story from the main plot. Ram Kumar (Sumeet Vyas) is a hot-headed soldier and ingle father to a motherless boy who has a special bond with Padma (Pooja Sawant). Complications arise when the man who the Padma weds the simple-minded Gopal (Satya Manjrekar) marches off to war on a nuptial night.
On the other hand, China slowly starts deploying troops across the Indian borders. To prepare a counter plan, Major Suraj Singh is sent out on a mission to gather intelligence about the Chinese camps. E. After China manages to take control of an outpost, India chooses to adopt the forward policy and fights back. Several small battles continue at the Himalayan borders. At one such battle, Major Suraj Singh conceals defeat and is forced to take a step back after facing an injury and unfortunate death of Gopal. The C Company also faces loss and have to return home to bear the defeat, but they wait their turn to earn back their dignity and honor their fallen soldiers during one of the biggest battles on Ladakh borders.
Positives
1. Excellent performance
2. Story
3. Dialogues
4. Cinematography
Negatives
1. Climax
2. Repetitive
3. Direction
4. Length
5. Dragged
6. Music
Durgesh Tiwary’s View : When I watched the trailer it looks interesting and connecting due to show is inspired by the untold story of 162 Indo-China war.
1962: The War In The Hills is inspired by true events is a fictional account of one of the fiercest battles fought by the Indian Army. The story follows Major Suraj Singh and his battalion of 125 Indian soldiers called ‘C Company’, who fought 3000 Chinese soldiers to protect India’s pride and the Ladakh border.
Series starts with a bang but will bore you in few episodes due to unnecessary romantic angle and songs. The family parts of the soldiers after a point looks little unwanted and at few points, it adds no value to overall series, also the scenes during the war, the gun fires and blasts were looking evidently graphically designed which kills your war sequence viewing experience.
Numerous times during the war, stagey meetings take place between the defense minister, senior Army brass and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (Arif Jakaria) and Indira Gandhi (Geetika Vidya Ohlyan) where they worry about how winter will play the defining card in the war. Nobody seems to remember this, however, in the badly shot climax where soldiers give no intimation that they are fighting in chilling cold.
Females plays significant role in this series. An army officer’s wife battles cancer without letting the strain show. A girl in love with a soldier refuses to abort a premarital pregnancy. A soldier’s bride is widowed before her honeymoon but does no let the tragedy get to her. A spunky Ladakhi woman faces constant danger to life and limb to supply milk to army encampments in a war zone.
Agree that series has multiple flaws still I would request all the viewers to watch this series to know the untold story of our brave soldiers so that we can know many more such stories of our India. My view on this web series (Recommended)
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