Paltan: 'Raat Kitni' from JP Dutta's war film depicts hardships of soldiers as they reminisce about their families

_ Paltan ’_s new song ‘Raat Kitni’ is very much within JP Dutta ’s territory of war films. The song is a documentation of the emotional hardships which most soldiers face before going to war, especially when they remember their loved ones. Dutta’s Border had the iconic ‘Sandese Aate Hai’ and it seems like ‘Raat Kitni’ is another version of similar sentiments. [caption id=“attachment_5017811” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Still from Paltan’s new song ‘Raat Kitni’. YouTube screengrab[/caption] Composed by Anu Malik, the song has Sonu Nigam as its vocalist. Nigam was an apt choice for the song as the texture of his voice manages to express the pain and longing accurately. Javed Akhtar’s lyrics are poignant and is able to convey the difficult scenarios that the soldiers are in.

‘Raat Kitni’ also gives glimpses of the women in the lead actors’ lives. Esha Gupta, Sonal Chauhan, Dipika Kakar and Monica Gill portray the pain on bidding farewell to the men. In one of the most important scenes in the song, Dutta has most of his actors which include Arjun Rampal, Gurmeet Choudhary, Sonu Sood, Harshvardhan Rane and Luv Sinha sitting around a bonfire in the middle of the night, quietly thinking about their families whom they have left behind. Based on the Nathu La military clashes of 1967 which took place along the Sikkim border, Paltan tells the story of the Indian armed forces facing off in an intense battle to ward off Chinese infiltration. With the film, Dutta is returning to his directorial duties after a gap of 12 years. He had last directed the 2006 period drama Umrao Jaan starring Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan. Paltan has been scheduled to release in cinemas on 7 September.