Kamal Ghorui
Operation Sindoor title has not been allotted yet
Last year, after the Army’s press conference on Operation Sindoor, producers rushed to register film titles on the operation, prompting industry bodies to urge applicants to stop registering variations. The producers, however, did not stop.Almost a year on, more than 150 titles related to Operation Sindoor are still pending.Abhay Sinha, president of the Indian Motion Picture Producers’ Association (IMPPA), shares that no producer has yet been allotted the title. He explains, “We have over 150 applications for ‘Operation Sindoor’ and its variations, but none has been approved. As the volume of applications for a single title was so high, we decided to defer a decision. There are also five to seven film title applications for the Pahalgam attack.”Studios that have announced projects on the operation have continued to follow up with the body, he said.A decision is expected at a meeting next week, where titles will be allotted, which is on a first-come, first-served basis. Trade analysts and industry insiders say they are not aware of many films actually going into production.Industry insiders say titles are snapped up after major incidents, but few projects move beyond the announcement stage. Despite the rush for registration of film titles, only two films on Operation Sindoor have been formally announced.‘Producers sometimes want to register titles only for publicity’ Industry insiders say that registering titles is like a gold rush after an important incident, but what actually gets made is only a small fraction of what is registered.TP Agarwal, former IMPPA president, explains, “Our producers sometimes want to take advantage of publicity. They register titles only for publicity. If a big producer registers a title, it usually means they will make a film, but most of the time, after an incident, small producers from regional industries rush to register titles without intending to make a film. Sometimes they sell these to bigger –change for credit.”Veteran trade analyst Raj Bansal adds, “Most producers just take advantage of a situation and, in a rush, register titles, but a film never actually gets made. They announce the film, and once the discussion dies down, it goes into cold storage. What gets made is a fraction of the titles registered.”‘WE WERE DISCUSSING WHETHER ‘GALWAN’ SHOULD HAVE BEEN REGISTERED AS A FILM TITLE IN THE FIRST PLACE’Recently, Salman Khan’s film Battle of Galwan underwent a title change. After the Galwan attack, producers had rushed to register that title as well.TP Agarwal shares, “Of course, if the Army says you have to change the title, then you have to. We should not have registered a title like ‘Galwan’ in the first place. Some time back, we were also discussing that for films based on operations or sensitive geopolitical issues, such titles should not be registered. I don’t know why it was registered.”Abhay Sinha adds, “Yes, ‘Battle of Galwan’ was given another title, Maatrubhumi: May War Rest in Peace. But as we do not have any orders not to give titles on operations, we will proceed with our system and allot titles accordingly.”Projects which are announcedA year later, as per official announcements, only two films are being made.Last month, filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri announced that he would be making a film on Operation Sindoor with T-Series, based on Lt Gen KJS ‘Tiny’ Dhillon’s (retd.) book Operation Sindoor: The Untold Story of India’s Deep Strikes Inside Pakistan.He wrote on X, “Rooted in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack and backed by extensive, ground-level research in collaboration with multiple wings of the Indian Armed Forces, this is a story drawn from reality – not to create noise, but to confront it: with facts, with clarity, and the magic of cinema.”A source shares, “There are rumours that Varun Dhawan has been contacted to play a role in this film.”A source associated with The Terror Report shares, “ The Terror Report , which was announced as a film on major terror attacks in India spanning from 1998 to 2025, was originally only on the Pahalgam attack. However, to avoid a clash with the film based on Lt. Gen. ‘Tiny’ Dhillon’s book the script is being modified. At present, the film is at the scripting stage.”Trade analyst Girish Johar says,”From industry buzz, I am not aware of any films being released in next couple of months. We have only heard about a couple of films which are at script stage.”
