J P Dutta To Return With War Epic On the 1917 Scale

 The  success  of  Sam Mendes’ war epic 1917 reminds us of how much J P Dutta  contributed to making  the genre in India  globally respectable with Border and LOC Kargil, specially the former. The latter in spite of its stellar cast which read like the who’s who of  Bollywood, and stunning war sequences , suffered  due to its inordinate  length.

But Border remains the single-most important war epic of Indian cinema.

Recalling the  film’s  across-the-board success Dutta says, “There was   a lot of junoon and passion behind that film.  Although we didn’t have the  financial  resources  of Dunkirk or 1917 we made it exactly  the  way we wanted  to without compromise. All the actors , Sunny Deol, Suniel Shetty,Akshaye Khanna, Tabu, Pooja Bhatt etc were fiercely dedicated. They spent months in locations where there  were no amenities , forget luxury hotels.”

J P Dutta whose last war film Paltan  turned  out to a damp squib  says he wants  the same  level of commitment  from his actors  and technicians that he got in Border. “And  for that I need to  collect my team carefully.I want to work with the bright talent around me. I am  confident we can do  another war film like Border.”

 J P’s  elder  daughter Nidhi continues  to be a pillar of strength . “She has put her own  acting career on  hold to look after our production house.”