Modi Govt’s Enforced Silence on China: Another Bollywood Film on Galwan Clash Shelved

‘If we are not going to get clearance from the Defence Ministry, there will be no point in telling the story of the Galwan battle as we can’t show the correct angle. If the fight and the reasons behind the clash are non-existent, what is the use of making a movie on it?” the producer of The Lion of Galwan said.

The Wire Staff

modi govt’s enforced silence on china another bollywood film on galwan clash shelved

The clash in Galwan Valley was the worst cross border confrontation between the two sides in 45 years. Photo: The Wire/Google Maps.

New Delhi: In June 2020, twenty Indian soldiers, including Colonel Bikkumalla Santosh Babu, were brutally killed during a violent standoff with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Galwan Valley on the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. Six years later, the Indian public is being systematically denied the right to see their bravery on the silver screen.

News reports suggest that the Modi government is effectively blocking and altering any cinematic attempt to depict the conflict, enforcing a sanitised narrative to mend its ties with Beijing.

The latest casualty of this undeclared censorship is The Lion of Galwan, a biographical feature based on Vir Chakra awardee Sepoy Gurtej Singh, who died fighting Chinese troops. Developed by producer Himalay Dassani and starring actor Abhimanyu Dassani, the project has been shelved indefinitely due to explicit directives from the Ministry of Defence.

“We have received a directive from them that there cannot be China-bashing,” Dassani is quoted about why he shelved the war film. “If we are not going to get clearance from the Defence Ministry, there will be no point in telling the story of the Galwan battle as we can’t show the correct angle. If the fight and the reasons behind the clash are non-existent, what is the use of making a movie on it?”

This follows a similar directive to another Bollywood heavyweight, Salman Khan. Khan’s big war drama, initially titled Battle of Galwan, has been pushed into limbo. Under pressure from the Modi government and the security establishment, the project has been quietly altered beyond recognition. Its title was sanitised to Maatrubhumi: May War Rest in Peace, its release delayed, and its script drastically altered.

Industry sources have told media that explicit references to China have been systematically erased from the film. Instead of naming the aggressor, filmmakers are forced to use vague euphemisms for China, a practice Indian films dispensed with many decades back. Substantial reshoots have been ordered to pivot Khan’s film away from military confrontation and toward “human drama” and family bonds.

By demanding script submissions before shooting and withholding clearances through the Central Board of Film Certification and the defence ministry, the Modi government is ensuring that authentic information about the Galwan clash remains buried. While domestic political rhetoric from the ruling party routinely thumps its chest over national security, the reality on the ground – and on the screen – is an enforced silence designed to appease an aggressive neighbour.

This article went live on May twenty-fifth, two thousand twenty six, at fifteen minutes past eight in the morning.

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