All Things Fauji and Fantastic

Tears swell up my eyes every time I watch a movie on the armed forces. No I am not weak; it’s just that I feel a connection, not only with the characters in the movie but also with that lonely soldier walking on the streets unaware and unsure of the largely civilian world. But for some reason, I love these movies, no matter how pathetic the plaot or the acting is. Why? That’s because I am a little crazy and love all things even remotely attached to the military world.

The craze started long before I got married to the olive green, with our very own Fauji, the famous serial of Shahrukh Khan. But my actual brush of real army movie was( on my husband’s insistence) with Saving Private Ryan, though the plot is great I loved it for Tom Hanks didn’t you? It has that old world military charm of risking your own life to save another. I simply loved the sheer intensity showed by the soldiers in actually saving Pvt Ryan and helping him finish the battle. The other military movie I like is From Here to Eternity, only for the purity of emotions. Uncle Sinatra you still make us swoon…..

Border was the first indian movie on the war I watched and simply loved it. I loved it for Akshay Khanna and Rakhi. Never saw better mother-son emotions on screen. Even when the movie ended I kept thinking about this blind mother and her life without her son. But I am still waiting for that rocking hindi movie on faujis which captivates the real essence of an Indian soldier.

Schindler’s List also holds a special place in my heart for a cinematic brilliance. Set in a military backdrop it depicts a human side in the not so human times. Next on my list to watch war movies is Apocalypse Now, have heard that it is a great piece of work on Vietnam War. Do share if you have seen some other great military flicks…