As Chinese media calls Battle of Galwan ‘propaganda’, here’s what Salman Khan said about India-China conflicts in 2017: ‘Those who order wars…’

The military standoff in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020. Clashes at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties between India and China. Twenty Indian Army personnel of the 16 Bihar Regiment laid down their lives in the Galwan Valley clashes on June 15, 2020. These included Bikkumalla Santosh Babu, who was posthumously given India’s second-highest wartime gallantry award, the Maha Vir Chakra. Salman’s role is said to be modelled on Babu.

What Salman said about Indo-China conflicts earlier

Battle of Galwan isn’t Salman’s first film set against India-China conflict. His 2017 dud Tubelight, directed by Kabir Khan, was also set against the 1962 Sino-Indian War. Salman’s character Laxman, a mentally challenged man mockingly referred to as “Tubelight”, who goes on a journey to find his younger brother Bharat (Sohail Khan), who’s deployed as part of the Kumaon Regiment in the 1962 Sino-India War.

“If you ask anybody if a war is good or bad, no one will say a war is good. Whatever the conflicts, they should be solved across the table. It’s a negative emotion. Nobody supports it, but it happens and nobody knows why,” Salman had said to IANS during the promotions of Tubelight in 2017. He also blamed the governments who order wars and end up costing lives of countless soldiers.

“I think those who order war should be sent to the war front, given guns and asked to fight first. It will stop in one day. Their hand and legs will start trembling. It will stop and they will go straight to the table and have discussions,” he said, adding, “We’ve only touched that and basically convey that war should get over soon so that our soldiers come back to us and their soldiers go back to their country. Whenever a war happens, soldiers from both sides die, leaving many families without their sons or fathers.”

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Tubelight also depicted Salman’s romance with Chinese actor Zhu Zhu. The film even received an extensive release in China. However, after the 2020 Galwan clash, the situation between India and China has turned more tense. Hence, the flak against Battle of Galwan is expected. The movie, backed by Salman Khan Films and also starring Chitrangada Singh, is slated to release in cinemas on April 17, 2026.