By Shiv Kunal Verma
23 years ago, I made the film ‘Standard Bearers’ on the National Defence Academy and then followed it up with ‘Making of a Warrior’ on the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. Both films were hailed by critics as being classics, but it was the NDA film that had set the tone. Initially, the Academy was set up in Clement Town, Dehradun, where old barracks that had housed captured Italian POWs during WWII had been converted to set up the Joint Services Wing. My father had been a part of 8 JSW, while his brother Vijay Dhruv had moved to Khadakwasla in his third term and was part of the second lot to pass out from NDA. My mother’s immediate elder brother, Sudhir ‘Marshal’ Hoon was also part of the same 11th course.
In 2002, when I shot Standard Bearers, we had filmed both 102 and 103 Course’s passing out, the former in their summer ‘white’ uniforms and the latter in the winter ‘blue’ patrols. It had been heady stuff, the sheer spectacle of immaculately turned-out cadets moving as a collective body in precise drilled moves. NDA simply was, and is, the soul of the country, and it had been a privilege to make the ‘Standard Bearers’. Most of the cadets then are now senior Colonels, Group Captains and Captains and it’s always a pleasure to meet any one of them.
The sun was not yet up when Sana, Hammad and I got to the familiar environs of the Academy. Two decades had passed and though things were a bit different, nothing seemed to have changed. From behind the closed gate of the Quarter Master’s block one could hear the band and the cadets warming up, and this time there was also the higher tenor of the women cadets. In the early morning chill, I wondered if the brass band would play the age old aarti, and when ‘Om Jai Jagadish’ started on cue, even across the parade ground one got goosebumps!
The parade followed the age-old established drill with the ‘Nishan Toli’ carrying the President’s Colours onto the ground, the saluting swords and cap badges glinting in the morning sunlight! Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, the Reviewing Officer, delivered a crisp speech and ACC and ACA won the Gold and Bronze medals, while Golf Squadron retained the Chief of Army Staff’s Banner. As the 147th Course went past the Quarter Deck for the last time and Sukhoi-MKIs flew over, another lot of young men (and women) had become an integral part of the Academy’s incredible history. May the Winds of Fortune always watch over each one of them!
Captions: Standard Bearers was released as a CD-Rom in 2003.
POP-1: Golf Squadron carrying the Chief of Army Staff’s Banner indicates it was the Champion Squadron. It would retain it this term as well.
POP-2: The Nishan Toli carrying the President’s Colours onto the Parade Ground.
POP-3: The Adjutant controlling the parade from his white charger.
