Border 2 (2026) – Cliched , Predictable

Genre: War movie – based on true incidents

Platform: Theatrical release

Director:  Anurag Singh

Cast:    Sunny Deol. Diljeet Dosanjh. Varun Dhawan. Ahan Shetty.

 Plot:  In the 1971 war, Lt. Col. Fateh Singh Kaler (Sunny Deol) captures a Pakistani post and awaits a counterattack. Three NWA (National War Academy) !! cadets Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon (Diljit Dosanjh), Hoshiar Singh Dahiya (Varun Dhawan), M.S.Rawat (Ahan Shetty) pass their courses and join the Army, Air Force, Navy respectively. They fight their individual battles during the 1971 war , while remembering their families and country while fighting…

War is painful, tragic and mind numbing. So is Border 2.

The film seems to be some kind of advertisement for a cough syrup, judging by the amount of screaming and shouting that goes on throughout its three hour and twenty-minute length. We are supposed to be energized by the persistent jingoistic dialogues ,but they are only a display of the lung power of the lead actors. The rule seems to be “whatever worked in Border 1 – lets make it bigger, louder, bolder” .  With all its faults, Border 1 was still a relatively decent war film that had tons of goofs but overall stood up, somewhat shakily.  The intention here seems to be walk tall and beat up everyone with a big stick – hold it, will a mortar tube do ? (Check below).

But before that , a quick history reality check.

• Major Hoshiar Singh Dahiya successfully captured the Jarpal post and repulsed multiple heavy counter attacks despite being severely wounded. He survived to receive the Param Vir Chakra. (He did not graduate from the NDA)
• Flying officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon took off during an air raid , shot down one Pakistani Sabre and damaged another , before being shot down over Srinagar. He received the Param Vir Chakra posthumously, the only one for the Indian Air Force, till date.(He did not graduate from the NDA).
• Captain Mahendra Nath Mulla , ordered the abandoning of ship, after his ship the INS Khukri was torpedoed by the Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor.  He sank with the ship , even offering his lifejacket to a sailor, and was awarded a posthumous Maha Vir Chakra. The PNS Hangor slowly crawled back  to port, escaping Indian attacks . She and its crew survived to fight another day.  The Hangor is a museum today.

Thus ends the reality check. If you did not know this , then its fine as the film starts with the usual long disclaimer about not being a history or a documentary and is a creative interpretation of the actual events and is  respectful to the Armed Forces. If this is respect, we don’t know what an insult can be.

One cannot understand why the history must be messed up with all sorts of messy and fully filmi  masalas . Like Hoshiar Singh , a student of the National War Academy (NWA – instead of NDA) being called by his father-in-law and going to his village to get married !  Trainees can’t marry if they are in the NDA and till they are well into their mid or late twenties.

So,  what are the idiocies and cliches in the film that are painful beyond comparison? They are marked with a + and – to denote what works and what doesn’t .

• The three cadets forming a bond – predictable, cliched but still decent. (+)
• They even say “if the three services work together, nothing can happen to India and no enemy dares to attack it. Hmm – the trio seems to have anticipated the current debate on Theatre Commands . (+ )
• Like Border (1), Sunny Deol is enough for the entire Pakistani Army. Never mind if he is standing on a mine; he can even replace his weight with that of an enemy soldier, who dies when the mine blows up but nothing happens to Sunny Paaji. (- )
• Sunny Paaji is in the vicinity of at least three tanks that are blown up by him. He is unaffected – not even a scratch. ( – )
• In the final battle , he even takes a mortar tube – or is that an enemy cannon – and bashes everyone with it. Hello – plot for Gadar 3? 4 ? ( – )
• Hoshiar Singh and his troops run straight WW1 style into the enemy position, unmindful of the volume of fire – really ? ( – )
• Hoshiar Singh pops a grenade into a bunker and jumps on to the TOP of the bunker. The Pakistani soldiers inside the bunker are killed while Hoshiar singh stares at the sky , lying on top of the bunker ( – )
• An enraged Indian soldier takes a mortar tube, places it on his stomach and fires at the enemy – really ? ( – )
• Nirmaljit takes off and shoots down four enemy planes. You see ; two of the retiring  Pakistani pilots had accepted his challenge, and returned to duel with him, only to be  shot down. ( – )
• Shetty Junior dives into a sinking ship and rescues his buddy – nothing wrong with that. Said buddy is under some kind of heavy machinery and the lights and circuits are all glowing, while everything is underwater. ( – )
• “Maaaa !Shakti”. Remember that from Border 1 ? Who else but Ahan Shetty can imitate his father ? And why does he call on Maa Shakti? yes – he IS injured severely. He calls for Maa Shakti so that he can fling depth charges like a rocket at an enemy sub that has surfaced to kill Indian sailors! Yes – it’s a depth charge that goes to depths and explodes but such is Shetty Junior’s skill that they become flying charges and hit the enemy submarine that has surfaced 200 – 300 metres away, whose evil Pakistani commander is bent upon machine gunning the surviving Indian sailors. Some shakti that.  (- )
• The predictable romances with the respective spouses and tearful sendoffs. ( + )
• Yes – Shetty junior gets his papa’s song “Ai jaatey Huey Lamhon” , shot in the same way with a jeep waiting outside ( ? )
• Yes – same song about letters Sandesey aatey hain is repeated , with predictable visuals of the soldiers remembering their homes (+).
• Having Kaler as the Commandant of the NWA and later appearing magically in the battlefield next to Dahiya from nowhere to save him from evil grinning Pakistani officer who gets down from his tank to shoot Dahiya with a pistol. ( – )
• Seems like Sunny Deol and tanks have some affinity. Instead of jumping from tank to tank (as in Border 1) , he goes BELOW them in a trench , puts a grenade in their tracks and renders them immobile. What an idea – Sirji! UNDER instead of OVER. The tanks still blow up and levitate. ( – )
• The sinking ship can still fire its torpedoes at the Pakistani submarine that disabled it . ( – )
• Last but not the least whats the idiocy behind shooting at the NDA and calling it NWA?

These are some of the samples (and there are many more) of the high level idiocy and lazy film making that is Border 2.

There is a tiny attempt to humanize the enemy . While patrolling the border before war breaks out,  Hoshiar Singh and his  squad see some Pakistani soldiers filling water from a stream. He crosses the stream and yells at a fresh Pakistani trooper  to salute – since any junior officer has to salute a senior officer, be it one’s own army or the enemy. Later Hoshiar Singh comes across the dead body of the same soldier, and sees the photos and letters of his family, near his dead body. Beyond that the all Pakistanis are snarling beasts who talk of giving India hell.

Perhaps the only thing that I personally liked is how the Gnat fighters have been rendered onscreen .  The air combat scenes are decent though not great. Some of the VFX are decent while others are ridiculous.

Despite its supposed respectful tribute to the Armed Forces, this feels, sounds and comes across like a bad clone of Border 1  on steroids – steroids that have given some bad side effects.  Diljit Dosanjh gives a decent performance as Sekhon.

Watch it at your own risk. In comparison, Border 1 is a masterpiece.

Sting in the tail – and it doesn’t get more pathetic than this . When finally Kaler decides to visit the Gurudwara , after the war, he sees the spirits of all the dead soldiers. Those who “died” in this movie and Border 1.  I KID YOU NOT.  Thus, Akshaye Khanna, Sudesh Berry and other “dead soldiers” from Border 1 and the ones that “died” in this movie , appear as ghosts in the gurudwara. Does it get any worse than this ?

Real history / Events : 2 out of 5

Script – 1 out of 5

Story – 2 out of 5

Direction – 2 out of 5

Photography – 3 out of 5

VFX/ CGI – 3 out of 5

Total – 2.2 out of 5