Bollywood is making a film loosely based on evacuations after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

Indian producer Ajay Kapoor and actor-director Subhash Kale are making a movie titled Garud, which is a fictionalised version of events based on the recent evacuation of people from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover.

Filmmakers Kapoor, producer of upcoming movie Attack starring John Abraham, and Kale have collaborated before on films Roy and All is Well in 2015. 

Garud will be jointly produced by Ajay Kapoor Productions and Vikrant Studio. The film is reported to be written by the writer of Mission Mangal, Nidhi Singh Dharma. Other details about the director, cast and crew have not been disclosed yet.

Expressing his excitement, Kapoor shared that "Subhash and I go [a] long way [back] and have been friends since years, when he approached me for Garud, I was really hooked to the script and instantly came on board. The film narrates [an] inspirational, patriotic story with a strong emotional connect, we are looking forward to mount the story on a large scale to give proper justice to the script”. 

Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, governments across the world have been trying to evacuate their citizens and many Afghan refugees from the country. More than 120,000 people have been airlifted out of Afghanistan to neighbouring countries such as Pakistan and Iran, as well the United States, Germany, France, Turkey and Uzbekistan where temporary refugee camps have been set up.

The Taliban takeover has caused a lot of panic and desperation, leading to people risking their lives in order to flee the country. A video of people clinging to an American cargo plane at the Kabul airport went viral on social media in August. Three people were killed. The Indian government also faced challenges while evacuating their citizens from the country. A total of 120 Indian diplomats, officials and journalists were rescued via an Indian Air Force flight from Kabul. 

According to the producers of Garud, the film tells the story of an army officer from the Garud Commando Force — a special unit in the Indian Air Force — and is “inspired by true events”. Kale explained that this is his passion project. "We are aiming to offer an international look to the film, taking inspiration from real-life events." 

A motion poster has been released for the movie. 

It teases the song 'Mera Bharat Hai Mahaan', composed by Ravi Basrur. Garud is set to be released on August 15, 2022, India's independence day.

We aren't expecting an accurate accounting of the incidents as the producers have already said it's a fictionalised version of events. India has, in the past, made similar movies very loosely based on real situations, such as Bhuj: The Pride of India.