The India China border tensions (especially the Doklam issue) had an impact on Bollywood films. While Aamir Khan’s movies are a craze in China, a few Indian filmmakers played it safe by dropping the idea of casting Chinese actors in their films.
Director JP Dutta, known for his war movies like Border, who has been impacted by the border tensions. Mr Dutta wanted to cast Chinese actors in his upcoming film Paltan, which is based on the 1962 Indo-China war, but dropped the idea because of the border tensions between the neighbouring country.
Earlier, the makers of Tiger Shroff’s Baaghi 2, who were supposed to film in China, deferred their China schedule as of now.
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“Certain scenes in the movie required officers who could converse in Chinese. To make the scene look authentic, they wanted Chinese natives for the film,” says Dutta.
Dutta insists that the Indo-China war is a story that needs to be told.
“It was played down by those in power then. At 5.30 am, the Chinese army attacked us, took us completely by surprise and within a couple of hours, they had wiped out a complete battalion (900-1000 soldiers). Nobody talks about these things.”
“We’ve decided not to get Chinese actors on board. The decision was made last week. I had wanted Chinese actors because I wanted to make Paltan as authentic as possible. I’m trying to recreate the actual incidents that had happened in the Indo-China war. It was difficult to convince dad to go ahead without Chinese actors, but we had no option, given the political climate,” says Nidhi, Dutta’s daughter and executive producer of Paltan.
Also Read: Battle of Rezang La: When Indian fought China to save Ladakh
