Longewala battle hero Bhairon Singh Rathore wanted to meet Suniel Shetty who portrayed him in Border: ‘We tried to fulfill it but…’

The Border Security Force (BSF) tweeted a condolence message on the passing of Lance Naik Rathore who served in the 14th BSF unit during the war and retired from service in 1987. The Border Security Force’s tweet reads: “DG BSF & all ranks condole the passing of Naik (Retd) Bhairon Singh, Sena Medal, the hero of #Longewala battle during 1971 War. BSF salutes his intrepid bravery, courage & dedication towards his duty. Prahari parivar stands by his family in these trying times. #JaiHind.”

Rest in Power Naik Bhairon Singh Ji. Heartfelt condolences to the family 🙏 https://t.co/5A531HeouG

— Suniel Shetty (@SunielVShetty) December 19, 2022

However, Naik Bhairon Singh had a wish of meeting Suniel Shetty which could not be fulfilled. “My father often rued that in Border, his character was shown to have been killed in the war. It was his last wish to meet Suniel Shetty, who portrayed him. We tried to make it possible, but it remained unfulfilled,” his son Sawai Singh told indianexpress.com. His relatives added that while the movie shows that he was married at the time of the war, he was actually single.

Suniel Shetty’s role in the JP Dutta directorial, which turned out to be one of the most popular war films in the history of Indian cinema, had received a lot of love when it first released in 1997. The film which is a tribute to the jawans who fought the Battle of Longewala in 1971.

Along with Suniel, the film also starred Sunny Deol, Jackie Shroff, Akshaye Khanna, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Puneet Issar, Sudesh Berry, Tabu, Rakhee, Pooja Bhatt, Sharbani Mukherjee and others. Along with other popular film awards, Border won three National Film Awards: Best Film on National Integration, Best Lyricist for Javed Akhtar, and Best Playback Singer (Male) for Hariharan.