Summaries

Synopsis

A Rajput Battalion protects India's border in Arunachal Pradesh near the Namka Chu river in Oct 1962. The whole battalion is wiped out by an unexpected attack in early hours of the morning. 1383 soldiers were killed and 1047 wounded. 1696 were reported missing. Letters of their martyrdom are delivered to their families by the postman.

In 1966, Maj. General Sagat Singh (Jackie Shroff), General Officer Commanding (GOC) 17 Mountain Division orders Lt. Col. Rai Singh Yadav (Arjun Rampal), CO of 2 Grenadiers to take charge of Nathu La pass.Rai has to relieve the 18 Rajput soldiers guarding the Nathu La post. In the 1965 war against Pakistan, China threatened to open another front if India did not vacate Jelep La and Nathu La. Sagat agreed to vacate Jelep, but not Nathu La, as Nathu La is the key to Sikkim and Sagat orders Rai to hold the post at all costs.

Maj. Bishen Singh (Sonu Sood) is Rai's second in command. Capt. Prithvi Singh Dagar (Gurmeet Choudhary) looks up to Bishen Singh as a role model. The soldiers carry the artillery guns to the top of the mountains manually with great effort.The other soldiers include Second Lieutenant Attar Singh, Hawaldar Lakshmi Chand Yadav (Abhilash Chaudhary), Naib Subedar Raghav Prasad Pandey (Nagender Choudhary) 18 Rajput Regiment and others.Rai has studied in the UK and has had the opportunity of meeting Field Marshal Montgomery, of whom he is a big fan.

Maj. Harbhajan Singh (Harshvardhan Rane) 18 Rajput Regiment wants revenge for the brutal killing of Rajput soldiers in 1962 at the hands of the Chinese. Seeing his passion, Rai asks the CO of 18 Rajput to leave Harbhajan behind to lead the platoon of 18 Rajput soldiers who will be assisting 2 Greandiers.

The Chinese keep constructing new bunkers on their side of the border to prepare for war. They also broadcast their propaganda on loudspeaker and announce that Indians and Chinese are brothers and asks the soldiers to go home as this is not their land. Rai orders speakers for the Indian side as well.

Bishen Singh orders his men to build bunkers on Indian side of the land to match the Chinese build up. The Chinese Commissar orders his troops to capture Nathu La, so they can occupy Sikkim. For this, the Chinese Army is instructed to drive away Sagat's troops from the Nathu La pass.

Back home Maj. Harbhajan Singh's girlfriend is Harjyot (Monica Gill). Harbhajan loves Harjyot but keeps agreeing to wedding matches proposed by his parents that infuriates her. Harjot promises to commit suicide if Harbhajan marries anyone else other than her.Capt. Prithvi Singh Dagar's fiance (Dipika Kakar) lives in a village and is from a conservative family. She is unable to flirt with Prithvi even though he is very flirtatious. Prithvi loves this conservatism in her.

The Chinese keep trying to provoke Rai's Paltan with random acts of aggression. The border is demarcated only by a line of stones and the Chinese troops would suddenly start walking towards the line with an intention to test Indian defense response.

Rai understands that they are following Mao's red book on guerrilla warfare. He reciprocates with mind warfare tactics of his own. The Chinese respond by building bunkers on no man's land, which Rai orders to be demolished. This leads to stone pelting between the Indian and Chinese troops with soldiers on both sides getting injured.Then in a different area, Chinese construct defensive positions just near the border, which is considered very aggressive. Rai orders the defensive positions to be removed, but then orders a withdrawal when the Chinese commander fires a shot in the air. He then orders matching positions to be built on India side of the border.

Rai orders 2nd Lt. Attar Singh (Luv Sinha) to go deep into Chinese territory for reconnaissance, and he reports that Chinese are doing some major military activity to take over Nathu La pass. He says that the Chinese have brought in truckload of supplies behind the hills, which are not visible from the positions on the Indian side. Rai decides to make preparations of his own to counter the Chinese attack, when it comes.

When the Chinese dig a trench in Indian territory, Sagat orders a border demarcating fence to be erected. Maj. Cheema (Rohit Roy) and his field engineers are given the job to complete the fencing. The Chinese start cutting the fence the next day after they are erected as having a demarcated border is not in their interest. This leads to lots of minor scuffles along the Nathu La border pass. But as the fencing progresses, the tensions escalate and one day the Chinese commander orders his forces to start firing on Indian troops working on the fencing. The Indian army retaliates with mortar fire of its own, leading to heavy damage across both sides of the border.

The Chinese start artillery fire, but when Rai asks for the same, Sagat asks him to hold his position. As the order never comes, the Chinese order invasion of the Indian post as the fight escalates very quickly. The Indian troops realize that the Chinese have built a secret tunnel to supply troops right up to the border, without any Indians knowing about it. Dagar sacrifices himself to blow up the tunnel and cut their path to reinforcement. Harbhajan is killed while trying to stop the last wave of Chinese reinforcements.

The artillery fire permission is granted, and the Indian army guns finish off the remaining bunkers and troops on the Chinese side. After 3 days of fighting, the Chinese surrender. They ask for their bodies to be retrieved from the Indian side to which Rai agrees. But then when they ask for Indian bodies to be returned, the Chinese ask for a letter to be signed that States that India infiltrated Chinese territory and hence their bodies are on the Chinese side. The fence at Nathu La gains permanent status.