Who Was Captain Vikram Batra AKA Shershaah Played By Sidharth Malhotra?
Sidharth Malhotra and Kiara Advani's recent release Shershaah is receiving a lot of love from fans. The film follows real-life incidents during the 1999 Kargil war. Many heroes sacrificed their lives to recapture the Indian territories from Pakistani intruders in the Kargil-Drass sector of Jammu and Kashmir, one of such heroes was Captain Vikram Batra.
Sidharth Malhotra is seen playing Vikram Batra's character in the film. He was an awardee of Param Vir Chakra posthumously for his martyrdom during the Kargil War in 1999.
Here is everything you need to know about the brave servicemen of the armed forces who laid down his life defending the nation:
Captain Vikram Batra was born on September 9, 1974, in Palampur, Himachal Pradesh to parents Girdhari Lal Batra and Kamal Kanta Batra. While his father was a government school principal, his mother was a school teacher. He also had an identical twin brother Vishal Batra and two sisters.
Batra, who did most of his schooling in Palampur had shown interest in sports early on. He along with his brother also represented the school in Table Tennis at the All India KVS Nationals. Vikram Batra reportedly was also a green belt in Karate and was a national level champion.
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Deeply patriotic from a young age, Vikram always also showed interest in joining the Army. After joining Panjab University, Chandigarh he pursued an MA in English to help prepare for Combined Defence Services (CDS) Examination.
In 1996, he appeared and passed the CDS Examination and was selected by Services Selection Board (SSB) at Allahabad as one of the top 35 candidates. After dropping out of college, he joined the Indian Military Academy (IMA).
A year later, in 1997 he was commissioned in the Indian Army as a Lieutenant of the 13th Battalion Jammu & Kashmir Rifles. From 1998 to 1999 he trained at areas that had significant militant activity including places like Sopore in Baramulla district, Jammu, and Kashmir, and Mhow in Madhya Pradesh.
In January 1999, he trained for Commando Course at Belgaum, Karnataka where he was awarded the highest grading Instructor's Grade.
During the Kargil War, under the leadership of Vikarm Batraon, on 19 June 1999, the Indian army captured point 5140, from right under the enemy's nose. While reporting the capture, Batra's battle cry was "Yeh dil maange more" which has also been shown in the movie. After the win, he was promoted to the rank of Captian.
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Batra's codename was Shershaah, days before his death in an interview, Caption revealed that Pakistani forces had learned about his code name and were using the same radio frequency as the Indian soldiers.
He revealed what one of the Pakistani guys said on the radio, "He said 'Shershaah, you have come? Don't try to come up otherwise you will have a tough time.' And that was a time they gave us a challenge, and my guys, they went wild that how dare a Pakistani troop challenge us?'"
After this successful operation, Captain Batra reportedly volunteered himself for the next mission to recapture point 4875. The historic capture of Point 4875 led to the mountain being named Batra Top in his honour.
The last time, Vikram Batra visited his home was during the festival of Holi in 1999, before his martyrdom during the Kargil War. He reportedly spent time at Neugal Cafe with his best friend and fiancee Dimple Cheema, who is played by Kiara Advani in the film.