The core theme is the immense sacrifice made by 40,000+ individuals, many of whom were ordinary people or former British soldiers who switched sides for the dream of a free India.
For Kabir Khan, The Forgotten Army wasn't just another directorial project; it was a passion project 20 years in the making. In 1999, a young Khan made a documentary for Doordarshan of the same name, where he traveled across Singapore and Malaysia with original INA veterans like Captain Lakshmi Sahgal and Colonel Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon. "It was a life-changing experience for me," Khan recalled in an interview. "The story never left me. I always had it in me to tell it in a wider level". The Forgotten Army - Azaadi Ke Liye -2020- S01 ...
To understand the significance of the title, one must understand the fate of the real INA soldiers. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, the Indian National Army was defeated. The British Raj, seeking to make an example of them, decided to court-martial three senior INA officers—Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Sahgal, and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon. The core theme is the immense sacrifice made
The year 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of India's independence from British colonial rule. As the nation celebrated this milestone, a lesser-known chapter in the country's freedom struggle came to light. The Forgotten Army - Azaadi Ke Liye, a web series released in 2020, brought to the forefront the untold stories of the Indian National Army (INA), also known as Azad Hind Fauj. Formed in 1942, the INA was a military force that fought against British colonial rule in India, with the aim of achieving independence. "It was a life-changing experience for me," Khan
: An elderly Sodhi returns to Singapore and Burma, where he confronts his past while guiding his grand-nephew through a modern student protest.
In the present day (set in 1996), we meet Surinder Singh Sodhi (played by M. K. Raina), an aged war veteran haunted by his past. Living in his sister’s house in Singapore, he is often dismissed by his family as a "family weirdo" suffering from PTSD. When his grandnephew Amar, a journalism student, visits him, the old man finally opens up. As they cover a student uprising in Myanmar, Sodhi is catapulted back to the horrors and heroism of 1942.