Christopher Nolan's World War II drama Dunkirk, which released in theatres on July 21, deals with the evacuation of 300,000 allied soldiers from the French harbour of Dunkirk during Germany's invasion of France.
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The movie garnered rave reviews from the critics. However, it has drawn flak for ignoring the contribution of the Indian soldiers during Operation Dynamo. Bloomberg View columnist wrote, "[Dunkirk] adds to the falsehood that plucky Britons stood alone against Nazi Germany once France fell, when, in fact, hundreds of millions of imperial subjects stood, perforce, with them".
There is very less factual data available about the role of Indian soldiers in the battle. But according to BBC, "four companies of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps, including a unit of the Bikaner State forces, served in France during the campaign on the Western Front, and some were evacuated from Dunkirk."
However, director Nolan himself explained why Dunkirk is not a war movie. He was quoted saying, "It's a survival story and first and foremost a suspense film. What we decided to do was to really try and live in the moment of the experience."
Historian Joshua Levine, Dunkirk's historical consultant, told BBC, "it isn't a film's job to tell the full story of Dunkirk... and nor, in the time available, could it even try to do so. This film focuses on a few protagonists whose paths cross occasionally, each one of whom experiences just a tiny corner of the whole story.
He continued, "What I'd love to see, though, is an Indian film about Dunkirk, or WW2 generally, and I sincerely hope Indian filmmakers are working on it."
However, Dunkirk opened at 416 screens including 10 Imax screens in India and did well at the Indian box office.
The film "is the biggest opening of an English language-only film in India", and has grossed a total of $2.4 million over the weekend.
