PHOTO
"Shershaah", which roughly translates as King of Lions,refers to 24-year-old Vikram Batra, who won a key victoryagainst Pakistan-backed forces in Kashmir before he died in1999.
It is the latest of a series of Bollywood films set in anationalist framework.
Militants in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir,India's only Muslim-majority state, have fought Indian rule formore than three decades. Neighbouring Pakistan, which controlsthe rest of Kashmir, denies Indian allegations of stoking therevolt, saying it provides only diplomatic and moral support.
Two years ago this month, Indian Prime Minister NarendaModi's government stripped the Himalayan region of its autonomy.
Director Vishnu Varadhan told Reuters the film was anopportunity to tell the story of a war that most of India'syounger generation is not familiar with.
Batra, became a hero in India after newspapers andtelevision channels splashed stories describing how he calledinto base after capturing a crucial peak against the odds with aslogan from a popular ad "the heart wants more".
It was part of a brief conflict waged in 1999 by India andPakistan in the mountains above Kargil along on the Line ofControl, the defacto front line between them.
Batra was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India'shighest military honour that year, after he was killed in enemycross-fire while trying to move an injured colleague to safety.
"This film is a tribute to all the 500+ martyrs we lostduring the Kargil war," Sidharth Malhotra, who plays the role ofBatra in the film, told Reuters. Also starring Kiara Advani, thefilm will be released on Amazon's Prime Video streaming platformon August 12.
(Reporting by Sunil Kataria in New Delhi, Writing by ShilpaJamkhandikar in Mumbai; editing by Philippa Fletcher) ((shilpa.jamkhandikar@thomsonreuters.com;))
