I had watched the Bollywood movie: Border 2 released in 2026 (based on the 1971 India-Pakistan war) very recently and had to share some of the depthful moments I noted in this movie. This movie is a sequel of the original movie (Border, 1997) that I had watched in childhood, hence I was curious to watch its sequel, especially due to the haunting music score. Anyhow, I still liked the original movie (Border) more as the sequel movie felt somewhat long and boring to me, except the parts which show the role of one of the actors (and a well-known singer in real life) Diljit Dosanjh playing the role of a Fighter pilot (Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon) which fascinated me.
(A small anecdote of why I have a fascination for AirForce in particular. Since childhood, I always had a t-shirt (dark blue) that actually had a logo which was the Airforce pilot logo (exactly like the one in photo of the actor as shown below) and I would just adore wearing it. Moreover, after my school, all I wanted was to become a pilot or join Airforce or something, however, that was not possible due to my eye number, hence left with no option, I ended up enrolling in metallurgical engineering (although I desired to study aerospace engineering). However, as I grew up, I realized I was not cut out for the air and actually had phobia of flying and of fire and explosion of fuselage. Much later in my life, I did find the answer to all that (reincarnation stuffs :)). In all this, little did I realize that music/ singing was silently whirling in my soul hinting at my true calling, although I was never able to actually memorize music although I had got a guitar in childhood and also a tutor to teach me, but something in my soul did not let me pick it up or have the peace to learn notations (mostly due to the hostile environments of the born family) and I dropped learning to play music, but listening and singing was one thing that never left me. I would just start to sing from very small age.) Anyhow, back to the movie sequence I wish to blog about:)
First let me talk of a specific dialogue sequence (from the movie as the dialogues are not available online) between the actor (Diljit) and his mother, before he leaves for the war as he is called to report at the Air Force base.
The dialogues in Hindi are:
Actor: "o meri sauteli maa, chalta hoon, asli maa ka bulawaa aa gaya hai"
Mother: "jeeta reh, meri umr bhi tenu laa de"
Actor: "ley, teri umr leke mein kya karunga, mere paas apni bahut hai.agar ashirwaad dena hai to yeh de ke saare dushmano ko maar giraun"
Mother:"vo bhi to apni maaon se lambi umr ki duayein leke aaye honge. Janam dene wali maa jeene ka aashirwaad de sakti hai, marne-maarne ka nahi"
Actor: "Tere kehne ka matlab hai ki main na ladun?"
Mother: "Nahi, tu lad, tera farz hai, bahaduri se lad aur fateh kar ke aa. Main bhi lad lungi apni mamta se...."
Actor: "O my stepmother, I am leaving, my real mother has called me"
Mother: "live long, may you also get my life span"
Actor: "why, what will I do by taking your life span? I have mine which is enough for me. If you want to give me blessings, bless me that I kill all the enemies"
Mother: "Even they would have taken blessings from their own mothers for a long life. The mother who gives birth can only give blessings of life and not of dying or killing."
Actor: "Do you mean to say that I should not fight?"
Mother: "No, you fight, that's your duty. Fight with bravery and attain victory. I will also fight with my motherly love"
So, basically in the conversation, the actor refers to his own mother as stepmother while he refers to India (his motherland) as his real mother- typical of a patriotic man. What I found words of deep wisdom in were the responses of his mother when he claimed that he wanted to kill all the enemies and attain victory for his motherland, and she replied with a wisdom that one is forced to stop and ponder: does war in fact solve the real problem? Truly, the enemies he refers to are also sons and daughters of another mother from a different country, and they share the same fervor. Finally, the mother replies by saying that her son should perform his duty while she will find the courage to fight her emotions coming from a mother's heart.
In the air combat sequence of the two fighter jets (India/Pakistan), ultimately the actor manages to win over the other aircraft, although he is fatally injured, but his pride remains intact, and he is martyred (with that sequence portrayed very beautifully). However, even the other pilot from the other side is also killed. So, one is left to wonder whether the war truly ended. In my view, not, simply because although the war on the outer level was ended and won, the war on the inner side started in the hearts of both mothers (struggling with losses of their respective sons) and perhaps may take a long time to end.
Interestingly, in the movie, a similar pathos is reflected in the actor Sunny Deol, who is playing role of some Indian Major on the Border who had also lost his son in the war but always had guilt that he was not there to receive his son's last phone call made only to him while he was on his deathbed. The guilt was that he was at that time praying in the Gurudwara (Temple of Sikhs) and so in the movie we see that he continues to struggle internally and stops going to the temple altogether since his son's martyrdom. Even his wife urges him to achieve victory not only in the external war but also in the internal struggle he faces within himself. Ultimately, towards the end of the movie, we see that he comes to terms with his internal battle and visits the temple, showing that he truly mastered the battle and accepted the will of God.
Interestingly, one of the songs of this movie that is primarily featured and also sung by the actor Diljit (with other singers also) has beautiful Punjabi lyrics (especially the stanza lines below:)
"Ho tujh mein koi daag nahi hai
Chaand tainu yaara ve kaise kahun
Ishq da chehra tera hubahu
Sari zindagi tainu takda rahun
Ishq da chehra tera hubahu
Sari zindagi tainu takda rahun"
https://lyricsmint.com/diljit-dosanjh/ishq-da-chehra
The song link:
BORDER 2: Ishq Da Chehra (Full Video) | Sunny D, Varun D, Diljit, Ahan | Sachet-Parampara, Kausar
