Not with the film industry, but with the country. I was disillusioned completely. I made LoC based on truth and every character was real. I agree that the film was too long, but you cannot give reviews where critics said there was no story worth talking about in the film.

If it is not worth talking about soldiers Vikram Batra and Manoj Pandey, who got the Param Vir Chakra, then what is life worth talking about for Indians? I would like to raise this question.

I agree but...

(Interrupts) There are two reasons. We were sucking up to Pakistan when LoC was released. Everybody was talking peace, and elections were being held. The average age of soldiers who died was 19, and you go on saying there is no story in the film. I cannot handle this because imagine what their parents felt about it. You just dismissed the film and put it under the carpet.

No nation who has any respect for their soldiers can possibly do like that, and we as Indians did that. This shows the character of this nation. It is unbelievable and shocking. In America, they felled two towers (of the World Trade Center) and they brought down two countries, Afghanistan and Iraq. The USA is friends with Japan and Germany but that does not mean it stops making (movies like) Pearl Harbour and Saving Private Ryan. They still make films that appreciate their soldiers. That is what I want my countrymen to do.

I can understand you may not like the film but you cannot say there is no story. You cannot say this film was not worth talking about. All said and done, LoC will be remembered after 20 years. If audiences just see the film, they will not need to know what happened in the Kargil war.

Don't miss: The Umrao Jaan special section

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