Border Turns 27: JP Dutta Recalls How Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna And Others Spent Months On Locations With No Amenities | EXCLUSIVE

border turns 27: jp dutta recalls how sunny deol, akshaye khanna and others spent months on locations with no amenities | exclusive

Border remains the single most important war epic of Indian cinema. Recalling the film’s success, filmmaker JP Dutta told Zoom, "There was a lot of junoon and passion behind that film. Although we didn’t have the financial resources of international war epics Dunkirk or 1917, we made it exactly the way we wanted to without compromise. All the actors — Sunny Deol, Akshaye Khanna, Tabu, Pooja Bhatt, etc — were fiercely dedicated. They spent months on locations where there were no amenities, forget luxury hotels."

27 years have passed since JP Dutta’s iconic war film was released. It remains the work this epic filmmaker is most closely identified with, although it isn’t the finest film he has made.

The song Mere Dushman Mere Bhai from JP Dutta's Border, sung with immense affection by Hariharan, had Anu Malik pulling out all the stops to create the perfect tune for Javed Akhtar's outstanding poetry on across-the-border brotherhood.

JP Dutta says, "It wasn't easy writing a song in Border that pleaded for sanity between the two countries at a time when politicians were baying for blood. But I believe we needed a voice of sanity. I didn't project anti-Pakistan sentiments in Border. The film was born out of my anguished comprehension of the complicated and tangled relationship between India and Pakistan. We're brothers and yet, we're enemies."

JP Dutta, always reluctant to speak about himself and his films, agrees, "Border just connected with audiences. It was destiny, I guess. There were some other films that I was equally proud of like my first release Ghulami, then Hathyar and Batwara. I am also very proud of my other war film LOC Kargil."