''1971: Beyond Borders'' is a 2017 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

-language

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

written and directed by

Major Ravi Major A. K. Raveendran SM (born 13 June 1958) is a retired officer of the Indian Army, former National Security Guard commando, film actor and film director predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and some films in Tamil and Hindi. He was aw ...

. It is the fourth installment in the Major Mahadevan film series, with

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

reprising his

double role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

as Colonel Mahadevan and a new character, Major Sahadevan. It also features

Arunoday Singh Arunoday Singh is an Indian actor. He made his debut with '' Sikandar'' (2009). He has appeared in films like ''Aisha'' (2010), '' Yeh Saali Zindagi'' (2011), '' Jism 2'' (2012), '' Main Tera Hero'' (2014), '' Mr X'' (2015), ''Mohenjo Daro'' ( ...

and

Allu Sirish Allu Sirish (born 30 May 1987) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu films. He is the younger brother of leading Telugu cinema actor Allu Arjun. He debuted as a lead actor with '' Gouravam'' (2013) and later went on to appear in f ...

. The film, set in two time periods, is based on the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and act as both

prequel A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

and follow-up to the series. Mohanlal's and Sirish's characters were modeled on

Hoshiar Singh Dahiya Colonel Hoshiar Singh Dahiya , PVC (5 May 1936 – 6 December 1998) was an Indian military officer and a recipient of India's highest military honour, the Param Vir Chakra, for his gallantry during the Indo-Pakistani war of 1971. Early life Ho ...

and

Arun Khetarpal Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal Param Vir Chakra, PVC (14 October 1950 – 16 December 1971) was an Indian army officer and a Tank commander, who is recognized as the Indian tank List of aces of aces, ace of aces, credited with 10 confirmed ta ...

, both of whom were awarded the

Param Vir Chakra The Param Vir Chakra (PVC) is India's highest Awards and Decorations of the Indian Armed Forces, military decoration, awarded for displaying distinguished acts of valour during wartime. Param Vir Chakra translates roughly as the "Wheel of Supre ...

for their roles in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. Dialogues were written by Shiju Nambyath for the script of Ravi. The film was shot by

Sujith Vaassudev Sujith Vaassudev is an Indian cinematographer and film director who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He has also worked in several Tamil and Telugu films. He is best known for his works in ''Memories'' (2013), '' 7th Day'' (2014), ''Dr ...

, while

Gopi Sunder Gopi Sundar C. S. (born 30 May 1977) is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works in the Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries. He began his career composing music for television c ...

provided the

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

Siddharth Vipin Siddharth Vipin is an Indian composer, who mainly produces film scores and soundtracks in the Tamil film industry. He recently married Shriya Mohandas. Early life Siddharth was born in Salem,Tamil Nadu. Finished his schooling in Muscat, Oman, ...

Najim Arshad Najim Arshad (born 8 June 1986) is a state award-winning Indian playback singer and music director, sung more than 500 songs in the Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi film industries. In 2007, he won the reality show ''Idea Star Singer''. He ...

, and Rahul Subramanian composed the soundtrack.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

commenced on 31 October 2016 in

Suratgarh Suratgarh is a city/tehsil and a municipality in Sri Ganganagar district and is the biggest tehsil among all the 7 tehsils in Sri Ganganagar district. Suratgarh is also known as "Cotton city" and "Bowl of grain" of Rajasthan due to the high ...

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

and completed on 5 February 2017 in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. ''1971: Beyond Borders'' released on 7 April 2017 in India. This movie was a flop at box office and made huge losses for the production team.

Plot

The film starts in

where a

Pakistani Pakistanis (, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan is the fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the second-largest Muslim population as of 2023. As much as ...

UN Peace Keeping Forces reaches a building where Gangsters are hiding. As the counter insurgency operation begins, the insurgents open fire. The team is stuck in cross firing and calls for reinforcements. At that time, an

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n UN Peace Keeping Forces reaches there and guns down all the militants rescues the contingent. The leader of the contingent is Colonel Mahadevan. He meets the leader of the Pakistani contingent, whose name is Col. Ajmal Raja Akram. He reveals that he is the son of Lt. Col Mohd.Akhram Raja. At a function to honour the UN Peace Keeping Forces, Ajmal reveals that his father was killed in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. On hearing about this, Col. Mahadevan reveals that his father, Major Sahadevan, killed Ajmal's father. The story shifts to 1971 when

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

was fighting for independence from

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. On 3 December 1971, Indian airfields are attacked in retaliation to which the

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...

announces war. After the announcement, the entire army is rallied, and leaves are cancelled. The war starts when the

Pakistan Army Armoured Corps The Pakistan Army Armoured Corps is a military administrative and combined arms service branch of the Pakistan Army. Headquartered in Nowshera, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan, the corps is commanded by its director-general, Major-General Zafar ...

attack Indian positions at the Basantar river. The Indians are not prepared and face a defeat. The

Pakistani Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

takes many

POWs A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. The prisoners are tortured by the army men. At the same time, Raja notices this and reprimands his senior officer for violating the

Geneva Convention upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...

which state that POWs should be treated like guests to which his senior officer is not happy. Later, the Indians launch a full offensive against the Pakistanis in which one of their best tank commander Chinmay is martyred. On seeing Chinmay's face, Raja remarks that such a young boy had destroyed six tanks. He declares ceasefire to let the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

collect the body. On seeing Chinmay's death, the Indian Army vows to take revenge. The

Battle of Basantar The Battle of Basantar, also known as the Battle of Shakargarh or Battle of Barapind (December 4–16, 1971), was one of the vital battles fought as part of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 in the western sector of India. The Indian troops won ...

begins with heavy casualties on both sides. In the end, Raja and Sahadevan face each other in a one on one battle, which is won by Sahadevan. At the same time, Pakistan surrenders unconditionally, and the official ceasefire to end the war is declared. Even though India had won the battle, Sahadevan is deeply disturbed by the deaths of the Indian soldiers and the

soldiers. He resolves that there should be no more wars as it leads to death and destruction. In the final credits scene, we can see an aged retired Brigadier Sahadevan narrating this story to his little grandchildren. He tells them that nothing can be gained through wars or conflicts.

Cast

in a

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

as ** Colonel Mahadevan (Son),

The Grenadiers The Grenadiers is an infantry regiment of the Indian Army, formerly part of the Bombay Army and later the pre-independence British Indian Army, when the regiment was known as the 4th Bombay Grenadiers. It has distinguished itself during the two ...

regiment ***Dev Prayag Hari as Young Mahadevan **

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

Sahadevan (Father), later

Brigadier Brigadier ( ) is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore (rank), commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several t ...

(Major

regiment *

Pak Pak or PAK may refer to: Places * Pakistan (country code PAK) * Pak, Afghanistan * Pakpak Bharat, a regency in North Sumatra, Indonesia * Pak Island, in the Admiralty Islands group of Papua New Guinea * Pak Tea House, a café in Lahore, Punj ...

Lieutenant colonel Muhammed Akhram Raja sharif (Major

Shabbir Sharif Major Muhammad Shabbir Sharif ( ; c. 28 April 1943 – 6 December 1971), was a Pakistani military officer and the seventh recipient of Pakistan's highest military award, Nishan-e-Haider, which he was posthumously awarded for his actions of val ...

) *

as Second Lieutenant Chinmay ( Second Lieutenant

Poona Horse The Poona Horse is an armoured regiment in the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army. The regiment, known before independence as The Poona Horse (17th Queen Victoria's Own Cavalry), was raised as a regular cavalry regiment in the Bombay Presidency ...

regiment *

Renji Panicker Renji Panicker (born 23 September 1960) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, film producer, and journalist known for his works in Malayalam films. He made his debut as a director with '' Bharatchandran IPS'' in 2005. Early life He di ...

as Lieutenant Colonel Janardanan *

Deepak Jethi Deepak Jethi (''Dīpaka jēṭahāya'') is an Indian actor in several Bollywood films and Indian TV series. He is also a voice-dubbing actor who dubs foreign media in Hindi. Deepak Jethi played the role of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale in ''Pradh ...

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Ajmal Raja (Akhram Raja's son) *

Asha Sarath Asha Sharath is an Indian actress and classical dancer, who predominantly works in Malayalam films and television shows in addition to a few Tamil, Kannada and Telugu films. She is most known for her role as Geetha Prabhakar in the ''Drishya ...

as Parvathy Sahadevan, Sahadevan's wife and Mahadevan's mother * Priyanka Agrawal as Sharif's wife *

Srushti Dange Srushti Dange is an Indian actress, who has mostly appeared in Tamil films and appears in a few Telugu and Malayalam films. She is also the runner up of the reality cooking show '' Cooku with Comali (season 4)''. In 2023, she appeared as a ...

as Chinmay's wife *

Sudheer Karamana Sudheer Karamana (born 24 May 1971) is an Indian actor who appears mainly in Malayalam cinema. He is the son of actor Karamana Janardanan Nair. Personal life He is the eldest son to actor Karamana Janardanan Nair and Jaya, at Karamana, Thiruv ...

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

Aadhiselvam *

Jayakrishnan Jayakrishnan (born 11 April 1974) is an Indian film and television actor known for his work in the Malayalam industry. He was introduced as an actor by cinematographer and director Sunny Joseph with the serial ''Ninavukal Novukal'' in 1997. He ...

Anand *

Saiju Kurup Saiju Govinda Kurup (born 12 March 1979) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam and Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri ...

as Gunner Nathan *

Padmaraj Ratheesh Padmaraj Ratheesh (born 1989) is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He is the son of the late popular Malayalam actor, Ratheesh. His sister ''Parvathy Ratheesh'' is also an actress. He made his cinematic debut with Deepu Karunaka ...

as Gunner Prayag * Krishna Kumar as

Havildar Havildar or havaldar ( Hindustani: or (Devanagari), (Perso-Arabic)) is a rank in the Indian and Pakistani armies, equivalent to sergeant. It is not used in cavalry and armoured units, where the equivalent is daffadar. Like a British sergea ...

Sudharshan *

Manikuttan Thomas James, (born 2 March 1986) better known by his stage name Manikuttan, is an Indian actor who works primarily in Malayalam films. He is known for his role as Kayamkulam Kochunni in the 2004 television serial of the same title. He was al ...

as Soldier * Pradeep Chandran as Radio operator Abhinand * Kannan Pattambi as Kunjikannan * Devan as IB

Director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

Nair IPS * Souparnika Subhash as Nurse Fathima * Neha Khan as Public Relations Officer * Zoya Zayed Khan as Pakistani doctor * Balaji Sarma as Sahadevan's friend * Krishna Prasad as Sahadevan's friend *

Meghanathan Meghanathan (November 1964 – 21 November 2024) was an Indian actor who appeared in Malayalam and Tamil films. The son of actor Balan K. Nair, he debuted in 1983 in the Malayalam film '' Asthram''. He acted in more than 50 Malayalam films. B ...

as Sulaiman, Sahadevan's friend *

Kollam Thulasi Kollam Kanjaveli Kuttilazhikathu Thulasidharan Nair is an actor in Malayalam cinema, who is better known as Kollam Thulasi relating to the name of his birthplace Kollam to his first name as customary in some parts of Kerala Kerala ( , ...

as Sahadevan's friend * Shaju Sreedhar as Chandru, Sahadevan's friend * Manuraj as Geethanandhan, soldier * Sudheer Sukumaran as

Maj.General Balukha Khan * Vijayan Peringode as Krishna Pillai *

Sethu Lakshmi Sethu Lakshmi is an Indian people, Indian actress who predominantly works in Malayalam films and television soap operas.She started her career as a theatre artist and later rose into fame with character roles. Personal life Sethulakshmi is fro ...

as Sahadevan's mother *

Saranya Anand Saranya Anand is an Indian actress who works in Malayalam cinema and television. She appeared as Vedikha in the Asianet drama series ''Kudumbavilakku''. She also appeared in the films '' Chunkzz'', '' Garudan'' and " Mamangam". She participated ...

as Military nurse * Shone George as Soldier * Tini Tom as soldier

Production

Overseas distribution of ''1971: Beyond Borders'' was handled by Josemon Simon.

Development

The film is set in two time periods, with Mohanlal playing both Colonel Mahadevan and his father Major Sahadevan (later brigadier) . The film will also see his transition from a

to a

. The film is based on a true incident and explores the friendship and life of two army officials. Mohanlal will be appearing in his fourth film as Mahadevan after '' Keerthi Chakra'' (2006), ''

Kurukshetra Kurukshetra () is a city and administrative headquarters of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Legends According to the Puranas ...

'' (2008), and ''

Kandahar Kandahar is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city, after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118 in 2015. It is the capital of Kandahar Pro ...

'' (2010). Ravi said in an interview in October 2015, that unlike the previous films in the series, ''Beyond Borders'' will be more like his last military film '' Picket 43'' (2015), that "the focus will be on the individuals rather than the war, and will portray the relationships that are forged during the war". Rahul Subramaniam,

, and

is composing the music for the film. In early August 2016,

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

actor

was confirmed playing the role of Lieutenant colonel (Lt. Col.) Rana Sharif, a soldier of

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

. Before zeroing in Singh, there were talks with other actors. Ravi was particularly looking for a Bollywood actor to play the role. Singh's character was modeled after a real life soldier in the Pakistan Frontier Force Regiment during the 1971 war. Ravi said, it is not a negative role that he is also fighting for his country and will have equal importance as Mahadevan. On 22 October 2016,

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

actor

himself confirmed his role in the film by announcing in

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

. He plays

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

(Lt.) Chinmay, an armoured

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

Commando A commando is a combatant, or operative of an elite light infantry or special operations force, specially trained for carrying out raids and operating in small teams behind enemy lines. Originally, "a commando" was a type of combat unit, as oppo ...

, of the wing headed by Mahadevan. It is the

Malayalam film Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both the mainstream film industry ...

debut of Sirish. Ravi was looking for younger actors to play the role.

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

-based

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

Priyanka Agrawal was signed to appear as Shariff's wife, in two different appearancesas a 65 year old and as her younger self. Hers is one among the two leading female roles in the film. It is also her feature film debut. In early December 2016, it was confirmed that the production team negotiated with

Nikki Galrani Nikita Galrani Pinisetty ( Galrani; born 3 January 1992) is an Indian actress known for her works in Tamil and Malayalam films. Her commercially successful films include ''1983'' (2014), '' Vellimoonga'' (2014), '' Darling'' (2015) and '' Vela ...

to play a

Tamilian The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is one of the longest- ...

girl, a love interest of Chinmay, played by Sirish. She was busy with her

Tamil films Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Chenn ...

, but attracted as a Mohanlal film and the debut of Sirish, she agreed on verbal terms. Galrani later opted out from the film in early January 2017 due to a schedule change and conflicting date issues with some of her Tamil films in contract. Her portions opposite Sirish were supposed to be shot at

Pollachi Pollachi is a town and municipality in Coimbatore district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Pollachi taluk. It is situated near the center of the South Indian Peninsula, surrounded by Western Gha ...

the same month. She was replaced by

, making her debut into

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam, Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both th ...

. Zoya Zayed Khan was confirmed in December 2016, to play a traditional

doctor. She is acting alongside Singh. Khan was cast after a

screen test A screen test is a method of determining the suitability of an actor or actress for performing on film or in a particular role. It is typically a secondary or later stage in the audition process. The performer is generally given a scene, or sel ...

. Shafeeq Rahman was cast as Jayakrishnan, one of the soldiers under Mahadevan's command.

and

also plays soldiers, among others.

is paired opposite to Mohanlal's Sahadevan, the mother role of Mahadevan.

Filming

The filming commenced on 31 October 2016 at

, India.

Art director Art director is a title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, live-action and animated film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supe ...

Saloo K. George built huge sets resembling army camps and bunkers. Built in

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

, they were transported to Rajasthan. The filming was conducted in the deserts of Rajasthan, the

Viper Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipe ...

population was highest in that area, the crew unaware of it first, immediately ordered

antivenom Antivenom, also known as antivenin, venom antiserum, and antivenom immunoglobulin, is a specific treatment for envenomation. It is composed of antibodies and used to treat certain venomous bites and stings. Antivenoms are recommended only if ...

s and worn heavy shoes on reaching the location. Chest congestion often occurred to the crew. Sirish joined filming on 5 November 2016. Indian army base in Arjungarh, Junagarh and Mahajan in

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the States and territories of India, state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. It is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Fo ...

were some of the filming locations in Rajasthan. After 25 days of filming, the schedule was wrapped on 23 November 2016. There was also a schedule in

Srinagar Srinagar (; ) is a city in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute is supported by the tertiary ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...

. The next few schedules underwent at various location in Kerala, beginning in

Pattambi Pattambi is a town, tehsil, and municipality in the Palakkad District of Kerala, India. It is also the administrative headquarters of the Pattambi Taluk. History Pattambi was originally a part of the Nedunganad Swaroopam dynasty, which was ru ...

, Palakkad district. The Indo-Pakistani war sequences were planned to shoot at

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

, later they decided to film it in

instead, following the Kerala schedule. After finishing in Pattambi, they shifted to nearby

Ottapalam Ottapalam (also spelled Ottappalam) is a town, taluk, and municipality in the Palakkad District of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ottapalam taluk and is located approximately 34 km (21 mi) from the Palakkad (district ...

in early January 2017. Then to

Perumbavoor Perumbavoor () is a municipality in the Ernakulam district of Kerala, India. It is located north of the district collectorate in Thrikkakara and about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Perumbavoor is part of the Kochi metrop ...

Ernakulam district Ernakulam (; ISO: ''Eṟaṇākuḷaṁ'') is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala, and takes its name from the Ernakulam, eponymous city division in Kochi. ...

in the third week of January 2017, where sets were built resembling

North India North India is a geographical region, loosely defined as a cultural region comprising the northern part of India (or historically, the Indian subcontinent) wherein Indo-Aryans (speaking Indo-Aryan languages) form the prominent majority populati ...

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

s and warfare trenches. It was constructed in a 40

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

reclaimed land Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamatio ...

near Perumbavoor. Mohanlal joined the location on 16 January 2017, filming held during day and night. The team began filming its final schedule in Georgia on 31 January 2017 for a week. ''Beyond Borders'' is the first Malayalam film to be shot in the

Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...

n country. Major Mahadevan's action sequences were shot in Georgia who is in a UN peacekeeping mission. The filming wrapped on 5 February 2017.

Music

The film will feature four songs composed by three music directors

, and Rahul Subramanian. The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

is composed by

. Singer Arshad debuts as a

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

through the film. He composed a

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

patriotic song written by a

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

-based lyricist named Kamal Karthik, the song come towards the end of the film. Vipin known for his compositions in Tamil films, is composing two songsone is a

romantic song Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

picturised in the locations in

. The other one is a motivational song that will follow after a speech delivered by Mohanlal's character. Subramanian composed a nostalgic song, sung by M. G. Sreekumar and featuring Mohanlal and Asha Sarath.

Release

''1971: Beyond Borders'' released on 7 April 2017 in India. The

dubbed version titled ''Yuddha Bhoomi'' (Battlefield) was released on 29 June 2018. The

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

version was released later. The film released in its original version on 13 April 2017 in GCC countries. The television broadcast right of ''1971: Beyond Borders'' was bought by

Amrita TV Amrita TV is an Indian Malayalam-language free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal an ...

for an amount of ₹5.5

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 6467492 2017 films 2010s action war films 2017 war drama films 2010s historical action films Indian action war films Indian historical action films Indian war drama films 2010s Malayalam-language films Films about armoured warfare Films set in 1971 Fiction about tanks Films scored by Gopi Sundar Films based on Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts Indo-Pakistani war of 1971 War films based on actual events Films shot in Kochi Films shot in Palakkad Films shot in Ottapalam Films shot in Rajasthan Films shot in Punjab, India Films shot in Georgia (country) Indian Army in films Military of Pakistan in films Films directed by Major Ravi 2017 drama films Historical action films HMajor4 Films based on the Bangladesh Liberation War Films set in East Pakistan Twins in Indian films