Shershaah Vikram Batra’s parents recall emotional reaction to his death scene in Sidharth Malhotra-starrer

Kargil War hero Captain Vikram Batra’s parents have spoken about their reaction to watching his recently-released biopic, Shershaah, starring Sidharth Malhotra in the lead role. Captain Batra died during the war, and was previously played on screen by Abhishek Bachchan in LOC: Kargil.

In an interview, his father, GL Batra said that Captain Batra watched the hit 1997 war movie Border eight times, but was also an especially patriotic person. 

He told The Quint, “Vikram had watched the film Border eight times which left a lasting impression on him. He liked the life and job of a soldier and decided to join the army. Apart from liking Bollywood, he also had a deep sense of patriotism.” 

He also spoke about watching the scene in which Captain Batra is gunned down by enemy soldiers in Shershaah. He said, “A Pakistani soldier in hiding targets him and some three to four bullets hit him in the chest. He then falls down and bleeds from the mouth when he chants his unit’s war cry ‘Hail Mother Durga’ (Durga mata ki jai). He then falls down and becomes a martyr. It was a very emotional moment for us.”

Captain Batra’s mother, Kamal Kanta Batra, said, “I got very emotional when he was suddenly hit by a bullet in the film.” Previously, his twin, Vishal Batra, had told a leading daily that he had a quiet moment after watching the film, in which he released ‘emotional havoc’ that he’d kept inside him all this time.

Also read: Shershaah review: Sidharth Malhotra plays Vikram Batra with saintly sincerity in Amazon’s simplistic war drama

Directed by Vishnu Varadhan and co-produced by Karan Johar, Shershaah also stars Kiara Advani, and was released on Amazon Prime Video on August 12, after being delayed by about a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.