Producers of 120 Bahadur told the Delhi High Court they will name all 120 Rezang La soldiers in the film’s end credits and OTT release. The Court refused to rename the film but accepted the tribute assurance and disposed of the PIL.
New Delhi: The producers of the film 120 Bahadur informed the Delhi High Court on Wednesday that they will honour all 120 soldiers of the Kumaon Regiment who fought in the historic Battle of Rezang La during the 1962 India-China war.
They said that every soldier’s name will be included in the end credits of the movie as a tribute to their sacrifice. This assurance was given by the legal counsel of Farhan Akhtar’s Excel Entertainment while appearing before a Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Shail Jain.
The Court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) that wanted the producers to properly acknowledge the contribution and bravery of Ahir (Yadav) soldiers who fought in the battle.
The Court recorded the producers’ statement and also directed them to make sure that the same credit is included in the Over-The-Top (OTT) version of the film whenever it is released online.
During the hearing, the judges also clarified that the movie is scheduled for release in theatres on November 21, and at this stage, it is too late to consider any request to change its name. The petitioners had asked the Court to rename the movie 120 Vir Ahir (120 Brave Ahir).
With these directions, the High Court disposed of the PIL.
The petition had been filed by the organisation Sanyukt Ahir Regiment Morcha, which argued that in the Rezang La battle, 114 out of 120 soldiers of the 13 Kumaon Regiment lost their lives, and
“113 of the soldiers in the company were Ahirs (Yadav’s).”
The organisation claimed that the movie wrongly presents history by
“singularly glorifying Major Shaitan Singh, as a lone protagonist under the fictionalised name Bhati (played by Farhan Akhtar), ‘erasing the collective identity, regimental pride, and community contribution of the Ahir (Yadav) soldiers who fought and fell beside him’.”
According to the petition, the filmmakers should either withdraw the movie’s certification or change the title 120 Bahadur to 120 Vir Ahir (120 Brave Ahir). It also sought
“make factual corrections & inclusion of all the soldiers’ names and insertion of an appropriate disclaimer”.
The producers were represented by Advocates Jay Kumar Bhardwaj, Priya Darshini Arora, Tanya Singh and Pranjal Patel from NK Bhardwaj & Associates.
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