Summaries

Synopsis

The film opens before the actual declaration of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 as army Major Kuldip Singh Chandpuri (Sunny Deol) and air force Wing Commander Anand 'Andy' Bajwa (Jackie Shroff) meet on a courier flight and speak about the possibility of opening of the Western front in light of the East Pakistan conflict. Kuldip takes up command of a Coy of the 23rd Punjab Regiment, arguing the light defense being assigned to the military post of Longewala. He meets his second in command Lt Dharamvir Bhan (Akshaye Khanna) (who happens to be the son of a 1965 Indo-Pakistani-War veteran who was killed during that war) and the Coy NCO Subedar Mathura Das (Sudesh Berry). The company moves to the remote outpost in the deserts of Rajasthan and begins to expand the rudimentary BSF post and does a recce of the area up to the international border with Pakistan. They meet the post's BSF commandant Bhairon Singh (Suniel Shetty), a deeply patriotic man who expresses his love for the desert.

During a night patrol, Kuldip, Lt Dharamvir and Bhairon Singh come across a suspicious bunch of locals who turn out to be insurgents having informed the identities of the company to the Pakistani military. The trio get into a brief firefight killing all but one of the insurgents when Dharamvir hesitates to shoot one of the insurgents, as he had never killed anyone. Kuldip severely derides him and shoots the insurgent himself, prompting Dharamvir to vomit. A badly shaken Dharamvir is comforted by Bhairon Singh and the two reminisce about their personal lives. Dharamvir recounts how he met his fiance Kamla (Pooja Bhatt), a lively young girl from his native village who he had fallen for and how he got his mobilization orders on the day of his engagement to Kamla. Bhairon Singh recounts his wedding night, his first night with his bride, when he was called back to post and how he bids a tearful goodbye to his beautiful wife Phool Kanwar.

The unit is joined by the charismatic Subedar Ratan Singh, a man of insatiable appetite and wit, with 2 106mm jeep-mounted RCL guns to serve as an anti-armor unit. The company wireless operator picks up a spy transmitting from a nearby area and Dharamvir sets out to investigate. He ambushes the spy and kills the man, bringing the body back to the post to prove that he has overcome his fear of killing another person. The unit settles down to wait for the enemy as they keep track of the developing events on the radio. The Indian army starts moving forces to nearby locations preparing to attack if Pakistan tries to open the Western front and this gives hope of soon-to-come action for the men tired of the long wait in the hot and desolate desert. Subedar Mathura Das is granted leave to attend to his wife (who is ailing with cancer) and children. The men receive letters with news from back home and talk among of themselves of the people they left back home to serve their country.

On the evening of 3 December 1971, the unit receives word that the enemy has attacked with Pakistan Air Force planes bombing multiple Indian airbases and that war has been officially declared by the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Dharamvir and five of his soldiers are sent to patrol the border within a section while Bhairon Singh and his men are assigned to clear out the nearby villages. As Bhairon Singh is briefing the villagers on evacuation, Pakistani artillery batteries start shelling Indian positions and villages.Kuldip joins in the evacuation as heavy shelling occurs leveling a whole village. In the meanwhile Dharamvir and his patrol spot Pakistani tanks and infantry crossing the border into India. He reports back the enemy movement to Kuldip and is ordered to secretly follow the tanks without engaging them. Kuldip radios for air support and speaks to Wing Com Bajwa, who tells him that there can be no air support as his base has only Hunter-Fighters, which cannot fly at night. In despair, Kuldip radios his CO and explains his untenable position. He is given the option of either holding his post or retreat, he decides to stay and so does his entire company.

As the unit digs in to face the enemy assault, Mathura returns and apologizes for deserting the men of his company. Kuldip thanks him for returning in time and assigns him to the RCL units, promising Mathura that he will return to his family when the war is over. The post is surrounded by massed enemy armor and infantry while the shelling from across the border continues relentlessly. Fortunately, Kuldip manages to get the company to bury anti-tank mines around the post to prevent the tanks from barging in. Upon seeing one of his tanks being blown by one of the mines, the Pakistani commander Ghulam Dastagir hurls expletives at Kuldip addressing him by name and tells him to retreat or die. Kuldip lashes back and swears and insults Dastagir, addressing him by name and insulting him. The tanks open fire on the post and the battle begins with Kuldip ordering Mathura to destroy some more tanks.

Though the tide of the battle is turning good for the Indians at first, it wasn't until Mathura's RCL is hit by a tank shell, wounding him and prompting Bhairon Singh to extract him from the burning jeep. Mathura is fatally wounded when he goes to extract a recoil spring for Bhairon Singh's MMG and dies in Bhairon's arms. Subedar sacrifices himself to throw away an exploding tank shell to prevent several of his men from being killed. Another tank targets Bhairon's machine gun nest and destroys it, wounding Bhairon. He charges the same tank and destroys it with an anti-tank mine, killing himself and the Pakistani soldiers inside the tank.

Dharamvir breaks through the enemy cordon and returns to post, but his entire patrol is wiped out in the process. The Pakistani commander orders a bayonet charge on the Indian position, but the attack is beaten back by the Indians with Dharamvir being severely wounded. The Indians capture a Pakistani private who reveals that the Pakistani column plans to capture Jaisalmer by morning, Jodhpur by afternoon, and reach Delhi by night.

As dawn nears, the Pakistanis launch a last-ditch attempt to overrun Longewala post with their massed assault of tanks and infantry, ignoring the danger of the anti-tank mines that are still buried. Kuldip gathers the remaining of his depleted force and prepares for a suicide counter-attack on the advancing enemy. The Indians engage in vicious hand-to-hand fighting with Kuldip jumping from tank-to-tank lobbing grenades down the turret hatches.

Dawn has broken as the fight heats up and Bajwa's squadron finally takes off from the Jaisalmer Base to aid Kudip's besieged coy. During the fight, Kuldip falls on the ground into the sights of a Pakistani tank but before the tank can open fire to kill him, it is destroyed by cannon fire from an Indian Air Force jet as Bajwa's squadron arrives and the tide of the battle turns. The Pakistani attack breaks as tank after tank is hit by the planes till they decide to beat a retreat back across the border. The battle ends as a soldier tries to tell Dharamvir about the victory and realizes that he has died. The unit is relieved as Indian tanks and artillery arrive and more air-strikes beat back enemy reinforcements. The end credits roll as the Indians launch their counter-offensive and news of the deceased reach their homes, much to their families' discomfort.