BHUJ: THE PRIDE OF INDIA is the story of an incredible chapter from the 1971 India Pakistan war. The persecution of East Pakistan residents by Pakistani military in 1971 leads to lakhs of deaths. Innumerable people migrate to India to escape the killings. Hence India too gets involved in this conflict and deploys a majority of its troops on the Eastern border. Taking advantage of this situation, Pakistan begins to attack the defence base of India on the Western side.

The film is a fictionalised account of real events. The Pakistani Air Force destroyed the Bhuj airstrip during the 1971 Indo-Pak War, dropping 14 napalm bombs on it. The devastation continued for two weeks, with relentless attacks by bombs and rockets. 300 people, majority of them women, hailing from the nearby village of Madhapur, came to the Air Force's rescue at that point of time.

It's good to have a clear mindset before setting out to make a film, but sometimes this also alienates all other sorts of viewers. Director Abhishek Dudhaiya's audaciously tilted film is loud, full of noise and has absolutely no regard for subtlety.

Independent accounts of the events that inspired Bhuj: The Pride of India are hard to find on news websites. Strangely, the available reports all seem related to the film. That said, the facts that emerge from them are actually mind-boggling. Here's what I could find. In the 1971 India-Pakistan war, Pakistani bombs reportedly destroyed an Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Bhuj.SquadronLeader Vijay Karnikof the IAF, who was stationed in Bhuj, was asked to rebuild the airstrip so that Indian military planes could ferry soldiers to the base to defend it against further attack.

There is no easy way to say this. Bhuj: The Pride of India is basically slow death by loud noise. Every character that appears, screams and leaves. The background score wrestles with the sound of machine guns and fighter planes, Ajay Devgn and others then use their lung power to be heard over the obnoxious music bed and we can't even hear ourselves think numbed as we are by the assault.

In the midst of the 1971 Indo-Pak valorous carnage, the IAF airstrip at Bhuj, Kachchh District of Gujarat was demolished like any volatile warfare. To which IAF squadron leader Vijay Karnik (Ajay Devgn), along with 300 women from the local village Madhapar responded with a stealthy yet miraculous reconstruction of the whole airbase. Undoubtedly, Bhuj: The Pride of India is a story that leaves us with a heroic sense of unity that surfaces in our hearts during the ballad of shell-shocked bullets.

As the end credits of Bhuj: The Pride of India roll, photographs of squadron leader Vijay Karnik, Indian army scout Ranchordas Pagi and the women of Bhuj who helped repair the damaged Indian Air Force air strip in 1971, are shown. What were their thought processes and what gave them the strength to take on a tough task on war footing? This film doesn't have the answers, since its formulaic narrative is limited to pandering to its stars.

Paper planes fly with more conviction than the fleet of VFX generated aircrafts gliding, bombing and crashing mindlessly in and out of the frame in Bhuj: The Pride of India. It's like Pearl Harbour on a dollar store budget. Ajay Devgn's latest contribution to hollow patriotism is inspired by true events from the 1971 War when 300 women of a nearby village gathered to mend relentlessly demolished airstrips at Bhuj.

Bhuj: The Pride of India has a rousing story to tell, of an Indian Air Force airbase in Gujarat that valiantly resisted repeated strafing during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. When Pakistani pilots destroyed the airstrip, residents of the surrounding villages helped rebuild it in no time.

Bhuj, as it so vehemently establishes in Sharad Kelkar's borrowed baritone, is inspired by true events, though significant 'creative liberties' have been taken. The true event mentioned is the war of 1971 between India and Pakistan, when the Bhuj airbase was completely destroyed in deadly airstrikes by Pakistani forces. About 300 women from neighbouring villages were called in to repair the airstrip, and they worked tirelessly for three nights, braving enemy bombing in a race against time.

Covering the 'Bhuj' disaster that happened during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the story starts by explaining the existence of West Pakistan & East Pakistan, and it covers the brief period which helped in the latter turning into Bangladesh. The sudden attack on Bhuj's airbase is led by IAF squadron leader Vijay Karnik and his team. Taking the non-linear route, the first half of the film unveils the cover from the reasons why Bhuj was attacked.

During 1971's Indo-Pak war, 300 Bhuj women risked their lives to restore the bombed Indian Air Force airstrip in Bhuj, so that it stays operational to defend the incoming Pak air and land assault. Encouraging the local women to help repair the airstrip on a war footing was Squadron leader Vijay Karnik (Ajay Devgn). The film recalls the crisis and the contribution of the courageous civilians and the Indian Armed Forces.

Two war films - based on real incidents - were released on OTT platforms ahead of Independence Day, thus making this comparison inevitable. While one is Shershaah, featuring Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani, the other is Bhuj: The Pride of India which has an ensemble cast of Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha, Sharad Kelkar and Nora Fatehi.

One Word Review... Bhuj: THRILLING. #Bhuj is a #BigScreen, mass-appealing spectacle... Scale + Star power + Stunning visuals leave you mesmerised... The second hour - leading to the nail biting finale - is a huge plus... #AjayDevgn in terrific form. #BhujReview

A sad apology for a war film, Bhuj: The Pride Of India is an unmitigated blowout. It hobbles through a maze of explosions, dogfights and battlefield braggadocio without so much as pausing for breath and allowing the audience to figure what on earth is going on. In the opening moments of the film, the hero's Jeep runs into a ball of fire caused by an enemy fighter jet that crashes in the middle of an Indian airbase. Even as the wounded Air Force officer lies on the ground. He neither writes nor groans. The narration begins. The voice is his.

What could have been Bollywood's one of most incredible war movies after Border, Uri, turns out to be the most forgettable movie of Ajay Devgn, Sanjay Dutt and Sonakshi Sinha till date. I bet how many of us knew about the Bhuj air strike by Pakistan during the 1971 war.