Filmmaker JP Dutta hosted his friends at a South Mumbai five-star to celebrate 20 years of release of an epic war film ‘Border’. Along with the individuals assocated with the film, actors Abhishek Bachchan, Suniel Shetty, Athiya Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Puneet Issar, Pooja Bhatt, music director Anu Malik, lyricist Javed Akhtar, singers Roop Kumar Rathod and Alka Yagnik attended the lavish bash. JP Dutta also announced about his new movie ‘Paltan‘.
Border was inspired by real life events that took place during the Battle of Longewala, during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. An emotional Dutta recalled, “I remember my friend Vinod Khanna taking me to the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. I showed him my script. He read it with childlike enthusiasm and told me, ‘Yeh film toh banake rehna.’ He gave me all the necessary permissions and asked [concerned authorities] to expedite the process. That is how I could shoot with the real men in uniform.”
Jackie said that Border was always destined to be successful. “From the dialogues, to the action, and even the songs, this script had all the ingredients of a great war film.” Suniel added, “I will take this film to my grave.”
The unit reminisce about the time they spent shooting the film when a heartwarming behind-the-scenes footage was watched. Dutta felicitated everyone with tanks and plane-shaped toys as mementos, along with a coffee-table book full of details and anecdotes from the shoot. Special cupcakes printed with images from the set, and cake pops in the shape of hand grenades, were served to guests.