Wagah

<p>The movie begins with the news announcement of the decapitation of two jawans ( ) by the and a third jawan named Vasu ( ) missing. The scene then shifts to a Army base where a wounded Vasu is held prisoner. He narrates the events leading to his imprisonment. Vasu, who is from a small town in , joined the BSF after his graduation to avoid working in his father’s ( ) provision store and was posted at the in . One day, he encountered a young girl named Khanum ( ) and immediately got attracted to her. After some days, Khanum reciprocated Vasu’s feelings but sadly walked away when he asked her to marry him. The next morning, two jawans were decapitated by the Pakistan Army (which was reported at the beginning of the film), forcing all Pakistanis in Kashmir to return to Pakistan due to rising anti-Pakistan sentiment. Vasu, who was tasked with the responsibility to ensure that all Pakistanis returned safely, was shocked when he found out that Khanum is a Pakistani from who had come to India to visit her grandfather. Later, the bus in which Khanum was travelling was burnt by protestors just a few kilometres from the border; however, Khanum managed to survive. Vasu took her to her home in PoK safely via an unguarded border crossing but was soon caught by the Pakistan Army for infiltrating into their country. He then gets imprisoned. In the present day, Vasu finds out that along with him, 23 other BSF jawans are held prisoner by the Pakistan Army. One day, he is made to fight one of the imprisoned BSF jawans ( ). He manages to defeat the jawan but is then taken to a nearby cliff by the Pakistan Army to be shot. However, a sympathetic Pakistan Army officer, whose daughter’s illness was successfully treated by Indian doctors, secretly allows him to escape. Vasu goes to Khanum’s village, where he witnesses Khanum’s family being killed by a cruel anti-Indian Pakistan Army commander named Razzaq Ali Khan (Shaji Chaudhary), who feels that Khanum is a traitor for loving the Indian Vasu. Vasu rescues Khanum and both of them leave for the Indian border, with Razzaq and the Pakistan Army in pursuit. He manages to subdue the army men as well as Razzaq, but chooses to not kill Razzaq. Razzaq, while accepting defeat, reveals that his opinion of India and Indians will not change. At this, Vasu forcefully replies that despite being an Indian, he does not hate Pakistan and Pakistanis and that the misguided hatred between the two countries only aggravates the India-Pakistan conflict. The movie ends with Vasu revealing the presence of the 23 jawans in Pakistan and ensuring their freedom, for which he is honoured by the as well as the . In November 2013, director Kumaravelan was working on the pre-production of a film on a cross-border romance between an Indian and a Pakistani, starring and approached to play the leading female role. However, in June 2014, the producer, Chain Raaj Jain, shelved the venture citing financial restraints. Kumaravelan then found producers in the form of Vijay Bhargavi Films, who helped restart the project. Actress revealed that she would play a supporting role in the film, while announced that he would be the film’s lyricist. was signed on to compose the film’s music, while and Lalgudi Ilaiyaraaja were chosen as cinematographer and art director respectively. The film’s shoot began in in February 2015 for ten days, before the team moved to and then on to the border to shoot scenes. The team announced the film’s lead actress belatedly in June 2015, with announced to be making her debut in Tamil films. was signed to compose the film’s music. gave it a 2.5/5 saying that it “impresses as a cross-border conflict flick with more emphasis on human emotions and humanitarian values”. gave it a 2/5 and described it as “flippant and insensitive”. gave it a 1.75/5 and called it “an outdated cross border romance”. gave it a 1.5/5 saying that “it’s a badly written, clumsily directed cross-border romance whose approach towards matters of the heart is as naive and laughable as its understanding of international politics, border security and patriotism.” gave it a 1/5 claiming that it had “a tottering script blanketed in hyperbole”. called it “A misfire on many levels”.</p>