12 Years Of Lakshya, The Film That Voiced A Million Dreams

Despite Lakshya’s underwhelming box office journey that surprised a lot of people by just not creating a hurricane back in 2004, the film gradually earned the recognition it truly deserved. Directed by Farhan Akhtar, the film in all terms became a face of million voices that at any point of time had dreamt of joining the Indian army.

Lakshya was special for a number of reasons. While of course it brought us a broader perspective of Indian army’s relentless effort to fight hard at Kargil in 1999, the film wasn’t subjected to that. Laskshya was a story of a directionless young boy who pursues the course of army without realising the magnitude of what he’s going in. He goes in, he flees, he comes back and makes his country proud.

This is one film after Dil Chahta Hai that further cemented Farhan Akhtar’s metal as a filmmaker. Written by Javed Akhtar, Lakshya also has to be one of Hrithik Roshan’s best. As the film completes 12 long years and we take a study of its reign, it’s funny to note how some movies do not end up getting their due while they release in theatres. As strong as this film is considered today, it never really could achieve anything major at the box office.

Here are 5 aspects around and in the movie that attribute to Lakshya’s everlasting glory:

Subject

Lakshya wasn’t one of those ordinary affairs made around the lives of army men and wars. The film had a single dimensional subject. It was a self discovery of a boy who finds his life’s aim through rejection, humiliation and ignorance. From a lazy rich nagging brat to being the hero of the Kargil war was a story fascinating enough to catch anybody’s attention. Lakshya’s biggest winner was its subject that gave voice to millions of dreams around the country.

Performances

While Hrithik is often praised for his performances in Koi Mil Gaya, Jodha Akbar and Guzaarish, somewhere along the lines we avoid Lakshya. The film that in most sense gave him that perfectionist tag he shines of today. Lakshya was laced with some fine performances including that of Farhan behind the camera. From Preity Zinta to Big B to Sushant Singh, everybody in the film had a lasting impression. It made the film more believable and appealing in response.

An Inside View

Lakshya gave us an inside view of everything it carried. While we are mostly shown wars at the hands of our soldiers, Lakshya took us into the IMA Campus in Dehradun. From the Honorary oath to the passing out parade, the film became a treat to its viewers who could not have asked for anything better. The film also showcased what goes inside the minds of soldiers who are battling their lives to save the honour of their country.

The Rock Climbing

Anybody who has ever followed the essence of Indian cinema would recognise the sound of music and Hrithik aka Karan Shergill sets off for a mission and mounts an enormous wall through rock climbing. The theme music behind that later gave way to Rock On’s title track became a rage then. The scene was graphically shot and was considered one of Indian cinema’s landmark sequence. It’s heart pumping to watch even today when you see it.

The Impact

Lakshya had a pretty hard impact on most of us who saw it back then. The film that is mostly relevant even today spoke of a thousand meanings that had their impact hidden in the journey. The film made a lot of young guys take defence as a possible career option and also got them closer to the challenges a soldier can have. The film’s account of Kargil war was something we hadn’t seen in LOC: Kargil and it unveiled a lot of closed chapters. From finding and winning your love to see that pride in your parents eyes, Lakshya was able to lay an impact not many films in the business could.

12 years down the line, the film hasn’t aged one bit. As much as you want something of this magnitude to hit the silver screens again, the filmmaker’s tirade of how challenging the process of making this film was, will answer your query.

As the film says “it took him 24 years and 18000 feet to find himself”, it only took us this 3 hour long affair to find a fine movie watching experience.