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Anurag Singh’s period war drama Border 2, starring Sunny Deol, Varun Dhawan, and Diljit Dosanjh, is all set to release in cinemas this Friday on January 23, ahead of Republic Day. The film was cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification with a U/A 13+ certificate on Wednesday, two days before its release. However, it hasn’t been cleared for release in the Gulf countries yet.
No release in the Gulf
Border 2 is likely to meet the same fate as Aditya Dhar’s blockbuster period spy thriller Dhurandhar, starring Ranveer Singh, which also couldn’t secure a release in the Gulf countries last month. The film’s overseas distributor Pranab Kapadia told CNN-News18 that the ban in the Middle East countries cost it at least $10 million. However, it has still emerged as the highest grossing Indian film ever at the domestic box office and the fourth highest grossing Indian film ever at the worldwide box office.
Border 2 will also face that setback in the Gulf countries, like most Indian films with an “anti-Pakistan” sentiment. Deol screaming, “Where should the voice be known? till Lahore!” in the trailer is proof enough that it’d leave no chances to spare Pakistan in its rhetoric. As per a Bollywood Hungama report, it hasn’t been cleared for release yet in countries like Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
Border 2 is based on the 1971 Indo-Pak War. A sequel to JP Dutta’s 1997 blockbuster period war drama, it’s produced by JP and daughter Nidhi Dutta and Bhushan Kumar’s T-Series. Even another recent sequel of Deol, Anil Sharma’s 2023 blockbuster cross-border action drama Gadar 2, wasn’t cleared for release in the Gulf region.
Suggested modifications back home
Border 2 has received no dialogue or action cuts by the CBFC back home. Its U/A 13+ certificate also indicates that the film’s action won’t contain a lot of gore either. However, the CBFC has suggested a few modifications, as per its guidelines. For instance, the Indian tricolour has been asked to be replaced from war planes. The warship’s name was changed to “Kavach”, as per another Bollywood Hungama report.
Since Border 2 is based on the lives of real-life war heroes, the makers submitted supporting documents available in public domain to the CBFC Examining Committee. They were asked to cross-checker whether the emblem displayed on the shoulder of the Indian Army uniform was correct. The makers confirmed that, and assured the CBFC they’ve verified it through not only the Indian Army, but also the family of Major Hoshiar Singh Dahiya, played by Varun Dhawan in the film.
Additionally, the CBFC asked the makers to add the actual name of Sunny Deol’s character, Fateh Singh, in the credits. They also asked the duration and font of the information about the warriors was increased for clarity. Thanks to no cuts otherwise, the final runtime of Border 2 was approved at 3 hours, 19 minutes, and 7 seconds.
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Border 2 is not JP Dutta’s longest film yet
Three-hour+ films are back in vogue, as demonstrated most recently by Dhurandhar (3 hours and 34 minutes). But Border 2 is neither JP Dutta’s longest film nor T-Series. For Dutta, who has co-produced Border 2 under his banner JP Films, it’s his 2003 period war drama LOC: Kargil, which was 4 hours and 15 minutes long.
Also Read — Border 2 music review: Little original thought as nostalgia uses her wily charms to convince you otherwise
It’s the third longest film ever in the history of Indian cinema, next only to Govid Nihalani’s 1988 period TV film Tamas (4 hours and 58 minutes) and Cheran’s 2005 Tamil film Thavamai Thavamirundhu (4 hours and 35 minutes). That makes LOC: Kargil the longest Hindi theatrical release ever. For T-Series, their longest film yet is Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s 2023 blockbuster family crime drama Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor, at 3 hours and 24 minutes long.
