1962: The War in the Hills is an Indian Hindi War drama web series directed by Mahesh V Manjrekar. It stars Abhay Deol, Sumit Vyas, Akash Thosar, Meiyang Chang, Mahie Gill, Hemal Ingle, and many more. It has a total of 10 episodes and was released on 26th February 2021 on Disney+ Hotstar.
The story is based on true events of the India-China war of 1962 which is famously known as the Sino-India war of 1962. Shagun, now old, is narrating the inspiring tale of the clash of the two countries to her grandchildren where her husband Major Suraj Singh (Abhay Deol) died protecting the country. The detailed story is also shown in parallel, Major Suraj Singh commands a C Company in the army training many for the war. In their hometown Rewari, we get to see more of those soldiers and their relationships with their families, their love life, and even one of them is getting married. But when China declares war, the soldiers with Major Suraj Singh are hailed and now they have to fight against China.
Written by Charudutt Acharya, 1962: the War in the Hills is more of a daily soap in the disguise of a war drama. We see the soldiers tackling daily life hurdles, Kishan (Akash Thosar) is the laborer's son and belongs to a low caste who falls for Radha (Hemal Ingle), they both love each other but this turns into a love triangle when Karan (Rohan Gandotra) also confesses that he loves Radha. Jaya (Pallavi Kulkarni) is the sister of Radha and sister in law of Karan so she insists that Radha should marry Karan as he's village head's son. This love triangle is also one of the main tracks.
Whereas Shagun (Mahie Gill), Major Suraj Singh's wife is diagnosed with cancer. Meanwhile, Chinese soldiers are busy capturing Rijo Post and other areas. Now telling about the cons, the series is unnecessarily long, 10 episodes are too much to handle, and that too with scenes that are impactless and melodramatic. If you have seen last year's The Forgotten Army by Kabir Khan, then you would have known how war films and shows should be made and look like.
The war scenes were epic and grand and were made on a humongous scale and you will wish to see and experience those moments on the big screen. Such was the impact. But 1962: the War in the Hills fails miserably. There is no thrill, a war series with no thrill is a letdown. Whatever the little war scenes the makers delivered is so badly executed, it's impossible to look at. According to me, the Naagin show has better VFX than this series. The soldiers firing, the cannons, the blasts, everything looks of bad quality. There's even Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and a young Indira Gandhi, but what's the use of it. They are shown planning and designing and that's it. Everything has been covered just for the sake of it. Some of the emotions are handled well, but what the audience will enter here is to witness the unseen 1962 war - to which the makers have given less attention and was unexpected from Hotstar in releasing such low-quality content.
Abhay Deol doesn't appear fit playing Major Suraj Singh, to be frank. The way he shouts, the way he walks, doesn't suit his character. He is doing what he's doing and he might be in his best form, but look like he forgot that he's playing an Army officer. The performance should have been like how Sunny Kaushal played Lieutenant Surinder Sodhi. Truly electrifying. Mahie Gill is good but it's a bad decision to use her voice to narrate the story. Hemal Ingle shines throughout as Radha and Akash Thosar as Kishan also impresses. Others are just about okay.
The cinematography by Karan B Rawat is not good. The scenes should have been epic, bigger, and effective enough to give you goosebumps. But no, it's very normal camera work which makes this show appear like a daily soap. The original score by Hitesh Modak is uplifting and loud and fits the tone but sadly with lazy scenes the music also doesn't create impact. The production design by Susheel Kumar Mishra is average and the editing by Sarvesh Parab could have been sharper.
Overall, 1962: the War in the Hills is an opportunity lost. Seeing the current scenario between India and China, it's a perfect time for us to watch content based on the 1962 India China war but this one is a big NO!!! The whopping more than 7-hour length is very long where you will get hardly 30 minutes of war sequences. I mean, emotions are needed too for relating to the main characters, but that doesn't mean we are signing up for a family drama and the dominating love triangle. The poor VFX also ruins everything, there's nothing in this show that is memorable.
Rating:- 1.5/5
Now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
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