Border 2 review: Sunny Deol leads a rousing return to old-school patriotism and a story you’ve seen before

Border 2 review: There’s something stubbornly powerful about nostalgia in cinema. No amount of digital wizardry can replace the emotional punch of a tune you grew up with or a face that once defined heroism. Border 2 understands this instinctively. It leans into memory with open arms, resurrecting the spirit of a much-loved 1997 war epic while dressing it in glossier production values and a broader canvas. The gamble mostly pays off, even if the film occasionally misconstrues scale for significance.

Directed by Anurag Singh, the film revisits the 1971 Indo-Pak war, not to reinvent the genre, but to reinforce it. Chest-thumping dialogue, swelling background score, tearful goodbyes and battlefield camaraderie are all present and accounted for. If you’re allergic to sentiment, this won’t change your mind. If you’re receptive to it, you’ll likely find yourself swept along. Scroll down to read the full review of Border 2!

The narrative follows three young officers from different wings of the Indian armed forces: the Army’s Major Hoshiar Singh Dahiya (Varun Dhawan), Air Force officer Nirmal Jit Singh (Diljit Dosanjh), and Navy lieutenant Mahendra (Ahan Shetty). Overseeing them is Lieutenant Colonel Fateh Singh Kaler, played by Sunny Deol, the sole connective tissue to the original Border. Fateh is less a character and more a symbol here: of authority, sacrifice, and that unmistakable Deol-era masculinity that cinema rarely manufactures anymore.

The screenplay, co-written by Singh and Sumit Arora, smartly divides the film into two halves. The first focuses on training, friendships and domestic lives. It’s easily the stronger section. The banter feels lived-in, the relationships breathe, and the film allows its characters to exist as people before turning them into martyrs. There’s warmth here, especially in scenes involving the officers’ wives, which add emotional ballast without overstaying their welcome.

Once the war begins in earnest, the film shifts gears, and not always smoothly. The decision to portray the conflict across land, air and sea is ambitious, but execution proves uneven. The action set-pieces are loud and elaborate, yet strangely familiar. Tanks roll in, bullets fly, explosions erupt, and still, there’s a sense of déjà vu. The grammar of these sequences is borrowed from decades of war films, and repetition dulls the impact.

That said, the climax restores some balance. It’s emotionally charged, efficiently staged, and reminds you why these stories continue to resonate. Patience, in this case, is rewarded.

Performance-wise, Sunny Deol remains the film’s emotional anchor. Age hasn’t diminished his screen presence, and he delivers both the booming speeches and quieter moments with conviction. Varun Dhawan surprises with his sincerity, even if his accent wobbles now and then. Diljit Dosanjh is the most effortless of the younger trio, bringing charm, vulnerability and steel in equal measure. Ahan Shetty, while earnest, struggles to leave a lasting impression.

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The music does much of the heavy lifting. The return of Sandese Aate Hain is an unapologetic emotional trigger, and it works exactly as intended. The background score swells when required, recedes when it should, and knows when to let silence speak.

Border 2 isn’t interested in being subtle or surprising. It wants to remind you of a time when patriotism in Hindi cinema was loud, emotional and unfiltered.