120 बहादुर

120 Bahadur chronicles the true story of Major Shaitan Singh and Charlie Company of the 13 Kumaon Regiment — 120 Indian soldiers who held the mountain pass of Rezang La in Ladakh against an overwhelming Chinese force of 3,000 troops during the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Without artillery support, outnumbered more than twenty-to-one and in sub-zero conditions, these soldiers refused to retreat. Major Shaitan Singh, played by Farhan Akhtar in his comeback role, led his men through a night of heroic combat before being mortally wounded. He was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra, India's highest military honour. Narrated by Amitabh Bachchan, the film was produced by Excel Entertainment and released on 21 November 2025.

Javed Akhtar penned all four songs of 120 Bahadur, creating a rare soundtrack where every track carries the weight of history. Amit Trivedi's compositions 'Yaad Aate Hain' and 'Main Hoon Woh Dharti Maa' (sung by Shreya Ghoshal as personified India) bookend the emotional arc, while Salim-Sulaiman's 'Dada Kishan Ki Jai' and Amjad Nadeem Aamir's 'Naine Ra Lobhi' (Javed Ali, Asees Kaur) add valour and tenderness.

One of the rare Hindi war films to dramatise the forgotten 1962 Battle of Rezang La, where 120 Indian soldiers held off 3,000 Chinese troops in sub-zero Ladakh — a battle that deserved cinematic tribute for decades. The film marks Farhan Akhtar's long-awaited return to acting and pairs him with Amitabh Bachchan's narration in a production that takes India's Sino-Indian War trauma more seriously than any previous Hindi film. Javed Akhtar's unified four-song album — every lyric penned by him — with Amit Trivedi's compositions achieves a rare coherence for the patriotic genre.

The film underperformed commercially, earning approximately ₹20 crore worldwide, but the soundtrack found independent appreciation. Shreya Ghoshal's 'Main Hoon Woh Dharti Maa' — a rare lament personifying India as a grieving mother — was cited as the album's emotional pinnacle. The Battle of Rezang La gained renewed public awareness through the film's publicity. As a war tribute, its earnestness was more admired than its box office, and it stands as one of 2025's better-intentioned patriotic productions.