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Kumar
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FilmiBeat
Akshay
Kumar,
whose
Kesari
is
based
on
the
Battle
of
Saragarhi,
says
it
is
sad
that
the
story
has
not
been
made
into
a
film
until
now.
The
Battle
of
Saragarhi
was
fought
between
the
British
Indian
army's
Sikh
Regiment
and
Afghan
tribesmen
on
September
12,
1897.
Saragarhi
was
a
tiny
village
in
the
then
North-West
Frontier
Province
(now
Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa,
Pakistan).
The
British
Indian
contingent
comprised
21
Jat
Sikh
soldiers
of
the
36th
Sikhs
who
were
stationed
at
an
Army
post
and
were
attacked
by
10,000
to
12,000
Afghans.
Led
by
Havildar
Ishar
Singh,
the
Sikhs
chose
to
fight
to
the
death,
in
what
is
touted
by
some
military
historians
as
one
of
history's
greatest
battles
ever
fought.
"The
Battle
of
Saragarhi
ranks
second
when
one
would
search
about
the
top
battles
ever
fought
by
India.
Sadly
we
haven't
made
a
film
on
it
and
not
many
people
know
about
it.
I
also
did
not
know
much
about
it
in
detail,
but
I
learnt
a
lot
of
things
while
working
on
the
film,"
Akshay
said
in
an
interview.
"It
is
fascinating
that
these
people
had
the
chance
to
run
away
but
they
didn't.
They
were
aware
that
they
will
not
win
this
battle
but
still
chose
to
fight,"
he
added.
Akshay
said
he
considers
himself
lucky
to
have
had
the
chance
to
play
Havildar
Ishar
Singh.
Talking
about
the
action
scenes
in
"Kesari",
Akshay
said,
"There
is
a
technique
called
Gatka,
which
is
popular
in
Sikhs.
We
had
to
do
that
in
this
film.
I
know
martial
arts
so
I
had
to
make
some
efforts
to
do
it.
I
had
to
learn
some
techniques.
It
was
a
new
genre
of
action
for
me.
It
was
a
different
kind
of
fight."
Some
crucial
portions
of
the
film
were
shot
in
Spiti
Valley
in
Himachal
Pradesh
and
Akshay
said
it
was
difficult
to
shoot
there
because
of
the
temperature.
"The
kind
of
terrain
we
shot
the
film
was
difficult...
There
is
less
oxygen
in
Spiti
Valley.Besides,
the
pagdi
(turban)
that
I
wear
in
the
film
weighs
one
and
half
kg
and
the
sword
was
of
6-7
kg
but
in
reality
their
sword
was
25-30
kg.
The
film
is
not
shot
on
real
locations
but
this
place
where
we
shot
matched
the
era
of
1897."
The
film
will
arrive
in
theatres
on
March
21.
It
is
produced
by
Akshay's
Cape
of
Good
Hope
Films
and
Karan
Johar's
Dharma
Productions
and
Anurag
Singh
has
directed
the
film.