Excel Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Trigger Happy Studios’ 120 Bahadur (UA) is a war film. It tells the story of how 120 brave soldiers of the Indian army succeded in preventing the Chinese invasion of the Rezang La mountain pass in India in 1962. As against a large contingent of the Chinese army, there were only 120 soldiers of India, but they did the impossible by preventing China from capturing the pass. Since it was snowing at Rezang La, there was no concrete proof of any war having taken place there except for the eye witness account of the sole surviving armyman. The survivor-armyman’s version was ultimately confirmed as the truth due to evidence which surfaced later.
Major Shaitan Singh Bhati (Farhan Akhtar) is leading a regiment of the Indian Army at the Rezang La mountain pass when the Chinese army attacks to capture the pass. Although the regiment has a skeletal strength of only 120 soldiers, Shaitan Singh succeeds in leading his regiment to victory. The Chinese army is forced to retreat. All but one soldier die in the battle. The lone survivor narrates the story of untold bravery exhibited by Major Shaitan Singh and his regiment, but since it was snowing heavily at the mountain pass at the time the war was fought, the Indian Army finds no proof of the battle that took place. There are no signs of bloodshed, and the dead bodies are also not found as they’ve been buried under the snow. How the eye-witness account is finally proven true is the crux of the drama.
Rajiv G. Menon’s story is quite nice. However, except for the last part of the drama — which is exhilarating — there is not much novelty in Rajiv G. Menon’s screenplay. The first half, especially, is slow-moving and boring. A lot of time has been taken to establish the characters (mostly the prominent among the 120 bahadurs) but they don’t get established as well as they should’ve been. This realisation gets underlined when the armymen are killed on the battlefield one after another, because the emotional appeal falls way below the mark. Had the characters been well-established, the tug at the heart strings would’ve been far more. Even otherwise, the feeling of patriotism which the audience experience is below the mark. Yes, a couple of emotions towards the end do touch the heart but they are just not enough. All in all, a weak first half and a less-than-expected second half make the drama ordinary, at best. Sumit Arora’s dialogues ought to have been clapworthy and full of patriotic feelings, but they fall short of expectations in a film like this.
Farhan Akhtar does a fair job as Major Shaitan Singh Bhati, but what was needed was an awe-inspiring performance. There’s nothing remarkable about him, which comes across — neither in his character nor in his performance. In a special appearance, Raashi Khanna lends grace to the character of Shaitan Singh’s wife. Sparsh Walia does a fine job as radio operator armyman Ramchandra Yadav. Ajinkya Ramesh Deo is impactful as the Brigadier. Eijaz Khan makes a mark as the Commanding Officer. Vivan Bhathena does well in the role of Surja Ram. Ankit Siwach is alright as Ramlal. Ashutosh Shukla does a fair job as Dharampal Singh Dahiya. Atul Singh is alright as Nihal Singh. Brijesh Karanwal is nice as Jairam Kaka. Dhanveer Singh (as Hariram Singh), Digvijay Pratap (as Jemadar Saab), Sahib Verma (as Nanha), Devendra Ahirwar (as Baingan), Laxmi Surana (as Shaitan Singh’s mother), Deepraj Rana (as Col. Hem Singh), Vidhaan Sharma (as Shaitan Singh’s son), and the rest lend fair support.
Razneesh ‘Razy’ Ghai’s direction is alright. He has made the film well but his narration does not evoke enough emotions or feelings of patriotism among the viewers. Music (Amit Trivedi, Salim Sulaiman and Amjad Nadeem Aamir) is okay but the absence of hit music is sorely felt. Javed Akhtar’s lyrics are fairly nice but they don’t have the quality to give the audience a goosebumps experience. Song picturisations (by Vijay A. Ganguly and Mehul Mehta) are okay. Satish Raghunathan’s background music is appealing. Tetsuo Nagata’s cinematography is excellent. The film has been beautifully shot. Action scenes have been wonderfully choreographed by Amritpal Singh and Marek Svitek. Shailaja Sharma’s production designing, and Roshan Vichare’s art direction are of a good standard. Rameshwar S. Bhagat’s editing should’ve been sharper.
On the whole, 120 Bahadur has some good heartfelt and emotional moments post-interval but they just aren’t enough. The extremely dull first half is a big minus point. The film will, therefore, not be able to win the box-office battle.
Released on 21-11-’25 at Inox (daily 5 shows) and other cinemas of Bombay thru AA Films. Publicity: fairly nice. Opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was below the mark at most of the places.
