Agastya Nanda’s second film, Ikkis, is just hours away from being unveiled to the world. However, before its official release, the makers held a special screening for one very important person—Mukesh Khetarpal, the younger brother of Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal—along with several industry personalities. The moment came to light after multiplex chain PVR shared a video from the screening. In the video, a visibly emotional Mukesh Khetarpal is seen speaking to filmmaker Sriram Raghavan, praising him for the film’s impact.
Overwhelmed, he said, “My grouse is you made me cry. You made me relive… Certain things were in my mind, and moment by moment, when I saw it on screen, I got so emotional I couldn’t stop crying. Now that I have seen the movie, I mean, the movie is ten times, maybe twenty times or even a hundred times more powerful than what we see in the trailer. Oh, fantastic!”
He later met Agastya Nanda and told him, “Whatever else you are, you will be Arun for life. There is no taking that away from you. Well done!”
Ikkis, which also stars Jaideep Ahlawat and the late Dharmendra (in his final on-screen appearance), is a biopic of Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal—an Indian Army officer and tank commander. Widely regarded as the “tank ace of aces,” Khetarpal is credited with 10 confirmed enemy tank kills. He was posthumously awarded India’s highest military honour, the Param Vir Chakra, for his extraordinary valour during the Battle of Basantar in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.
Tragically, Arun Khetarpal became the youngest recipient of the Param Vir Chakra, having laid down his life just two months after turning 21 in December 1971. Remarkably, he had joined the Indian Army at the age of 17. His family boasts a long and distinguished legacy of military service—his father served in the Indian Army, his grandfather fought in World War I, and his great-grandfather served in the Sikh Khalsa Army.
