Ahead of Independence Day, Ajay Devgn-starrer Bhuj: The Pride of India is set to debut on Disney plus Hotstar on Friday. The period war-action movie follows IAF Squadron Leader and then Bhuj airport in-charge Vijay Karnik, played by Devgn, who reconstructed an entire IAF airbase along with the help of 300 women from a local village in Madhapar.
While sharing the film's trailer in July, Devgn described it as the untold story of 'the greatest battle ever fought'.
True story
On December 8, 1971 during the Indo-Pakistan war, Pakistan jets dropped 14 Napalm bombs on the Indian Airforce strip, rendering it unusable. The IAF planes could not take off from here; the IAF sought the help of BSF jawans to repair the strip. However, they were short of labour. That is when 300 people, mainly women, from Madhapur village in Bhuj stepped up to serve their country. Risking their lives, the women toiled day and night fixing the airstrip, and on the fourth day, the airstrip was functional. Valbai Seghani, one of these warrior women, told Ahmedabad Mirror that she felt like a soldier all the while. “We were 300 women who left our homes to help the Air Force, determined to ensure the pilots fly again from here. If we were to die, it would have been an honourable death,” she had said.
It was Squadron Leader Karnik's timely thinking that led to the bold move of involving civilians in a war situation.“We were fighting a war and if there had been any casualties of any of these women, it would have been a great loss. But I took the decision and it worked out. I had briefed them where they could take shelter if attacked and they followed it bravely,” the Hindustan Times quoted him as saying.
Bhuj also stars Sanjay Dutt, Sonakshi Sinha, Ammy Virk, Nora Fatehi and Sharad Kelkar.