Director
Major Ravi's previous movie Picket 43 showed a different side of the filmmaker, in the sense that he could successfully wrap a story of soldiers on either side of the border while giving the audience an emotional layer to harp on.
He's brought that layer into 1971: Beyond Borders, the fourth film in the Major Mahadevan franchise. The addition of superstar
Mohanlal into the film though means that everything has to be scaled up and Major Ravi along with his team more than delivers in that regard in the first half.
The film, which is 2 hours and 15 mins long, is set against the backdrop of 1971 Indo-Pak war and Major Sahadevan (Mohanlal) leads the Indian troupe while Lieutenant Colonel Raja (Arunoday Singh) heads the Pakistani force.
The director invests the major portions of first half to flesh out an emotional layer by focusing on the family relationships of the soldiers - their love and values that though take a backseat at the war front.
Mohanlal appears in two characters and three getups within the first 20 minutes before the flashback set in 1971 takes over. The drama portions though are a slight overdose but drives the point home that the director is focusing on showing a balanced view of war from the perspectives of both India and Pakistan soldiers. The tank sequences are a highlight.
The interval ends with Mohanlal set to lead the forces to war and has enough dialogues to stir the patriotic fervour.
Read full review of 1971: Beyond Borders here...