Ikkis
2026 · Directed by Sriram Raghavan
Original language: Hindi
- history
- war
- drama
The story
Second Lieutenant and India's youngest Param Vir Chakra recipient, Arun Khetarpal, gave his life fighting for his battalion and the country during the 1971 Battle of Basantar. Ikkis also takes a reflective look at the futility of war through the eyes of Khetarpal's father, who visits his ancestral home in Sargodha and Alma Mater for reunion, which now happens to be in post-partition Pakistan, 30 years later.
What it’s like
Hushed reflection set against the clatter of 1970s military life: a period film whose quieter passages sit with a grieving father as he returns to a ruined-feeling ancestral town and a school reunion that now lies across a border. The battle scenes carry the weight of a historical war drama, so expect sustained combat violence and the dread of armoured fighting, though the film's emotional center is a restrained study of loss rather than spectacle. Its tone is solemn and earnest, with a pace that alternates between tense military sequences and long, contemplative stretches of memory and conversation. The arc follows a family confronting what a single sacrifice means decades later, with the futility of war gradually surfacing beneath the heroism. It suits viewers drawn to based-on-true-events history, Indian war cinema, and patient biographical drama, and it asks for attention on a quiet evening rather than a light, undemanding watch.
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