Not according to what I've read on Indian forums. People were posting that this movie is meant to raise awareness of the Indian POWs supposedly still languishing in Pakistani jails.
I'm wondering if there are any figures at all (official or non-official) from either side about how many Indian POWs were captured, even if they were later released?
I think there were about 650+ Indian soldiers , officers, airmen taken POW in 71 in West Pakistan who were repatriated back to India. Around approx 300 are classified as missing. The 54 are probably from this list. 60% of these 54 are air force.
The movie you are talking about is a piece of C**p. its a mash of all hollywood movies - Missing in Action 2, Great Escape, Rambo . The movie does raise awareness of the POW society - but other htan that it is just a POW fantasy movie - the same genre as the 'Missing in Action' series of movies were.
I fully sympathise with the members of the POW society - it is their right to believe that their loved ones are possibly alive - for they have not had closure in terms of a body or a confirmed fate. However for someone with a close interest in these wars, it is VERY obvious that some names should not be there on the list. , Some of the names in that list are actually from the 65 War.
As I said, perhaps five or six names should be considered out of the 54 - There is this very clear case of an Army Major, whose face appeared in a TIME magazine photo and shown as an Indian POW. But there was no trace of him when the pows came home. Now that is a very strong case - perhaps the Indian Army should have looked into it - seen if the photo could have been of somebody else. Then there are some cases of IAF pilots announced as captured by the Pak radio, but subsequently denied.
Officially the Indian Army and Air Force does not support these assertions - for them the chapter is closed and these names are 'missing and possibly died'. But for the families it is not easy to 'close the chapter'.
