At times like this, I find it a shame there’s no counter POV. Wouldn’t it be nice to see Pakistan’s take on the 1965 war it fought with India?
Why do I say this? Wellllllll, according to the movie I saw, in 1965, India and Pakistan had brief war in which Pakistan raided India one night, then India retaliated the next day and destroyed every last decent plane Pakistan owned. War over.
Wikipedia, OTOH, reports: “In the air war, which took place in September, both air forces conducted thousands of defensive and offensive sorties over Indian and Pakistani airspace…The air war ended in a stalemate.”
Gee, who can be trusted on this issue? I cannot possibly decide.
There are only two guys in the Indian Air Force worth mentioning, apparently, so I’ll mention them: Wing Commander Kumar Om Ahuja (Akshay Kumar) and his literal wing man T. Krishna Vijaya (Veer Pahariya). They are known respectively as “Tiger” and “Tabby.” Tabby is India’s Maverick – the ultra-talented flier who plays by his own rules. On the big day of the war, Tabby is sidelined for his antics – which is what you do in the real life military with guys who don’t follow directions.
“Tabby” is an awfully WTF handle, no?”
“Gentlemen, today’s war games feature the best of the best – on this side will be Iceman, Maverick, Warlock, and Hangman against the challengers Tabby, Fluffy, Drano, and Lintfuzz.”
But I digress.
Act I we set up the war and the players; the only piece of news worth mentioning is at this time, Pakistan owns a number of American Starstriker jets. These jets are faster and more powerful than the Indian planes.
Act II is the war. This is the film worth seeing. The combat is limited, but the action is quite spectacular and intense. Yeah, there’s a bit too much trampoline tech from the stuntmen, but whatchagonnado? This part comes off
as a mix between Top Gun and Pearl Harbor.
Act III is the search for Tabby, lost in the war. It’s weird that a war film suddenly becomes a mystery, but :shrug: this is the film they wanted to make.
I understand Sky Force as propaganda. Is it really any different than our propaganda? Probably not. I’d say India is just a tad behind us in the use of film for “Rah! Rah!” nationalistic purposes. Yet, the film is both exciting and moving – to an extent. It did make me wonder what the Pakinstani view of these events were, which is more than I expected. If you Top Gun lovers are stuck at the moment, try this one out; you can do a lot worse.
There was once a fighter pilot named Tabby
Whose air proficiency was none-too-shabby
Yet when the big day came
He found nothing but shame
Cuz sidelining made this Maverick crabby
Not Rated, 150 Minutes
Director: Abhishek Anil Kapur, Sandeep Kewlani
Writer: Niren Bhatt, Sandeep Kewlani, Aamil Keeyan Khan
Genre: Making Pakistan pay!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Indian nationalists
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Pakistanis
