General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

1962: The War in the Hills

1962: The War in the Hills is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language streaming war drama series that offers a fictionalised account of the 1962 Sino-Indian War, centered on a small company of Indian soldiers who defend a strategic pass on the Himalayan border against a much larger Chinese force. Directed by Mahesh Manjrekar and led by Abhay Deol as Major Suraj Singh, the ten-episode series was released on Disney+ Hotstar VIP on 26 February 2021.¹

Key fact	Detail
Original release	26 February 2021, Disney+ Hotstar VIP (Hotstar Specials)¹
Format	10 episodes, Hindi, roughly 40 to 45 minutes each¹^•²
Premise	A fictionalised narrative of the 1962 Sino-Indian War in which 126 Indian soldiers defend a strategic pass against 3,000 enemy soldiers¹
Director / writer	Mahesh Manjrekar (director); Charudutt Acharya (writer)¹
Lead cast	Abhay Deol as Major Suraj Singh, Mahie Gill as Shagun Singh, Sumeet Vyas, Akash Thosar as Sepoy Kishan Yadav, Meiyang Chang³
Production	Arre and Arre Studios; producer Ajay Chacko; cinematography Karan B. Rawat; music Hitesh Modak¹
Audience rating	6.0 on IMDb (about 1,000 to 1,500 ratings)³

Spoilers

Premise and historical basis

The series is set in 1962, days before the outbreak of the Sino-Indian War, as tension builds on the border between India and China. Major Suraj Singh commands C Company, the battalion that comes face to face with the enemy. Its central battle is a fictionalised version of a real last-stand engagement: according to the show's synopsis, 126 Indian soldiers defended a strategic pass against 3,000 enemy soldiers, a battle "fought to the last bullet."¹^•³ According to the synopsis on Rotten Tomatoes, the actual battles depicted took place in Galwan Valley and Rezang La, where a 3,000-strong People's Liberation Army force was held off by 125 Indian Army soldiers charged with its defense.⁴ Scroll.in describes the battalion as led by Suraj Singh and comprising 124 other members resisting 3,000 Chinese soldiers in Ladakh.⁵ Published counts of the defending force therefore vary between 124 companions, 125, and 126 soldiers across sources.

The Indian Express trailer report places the flashpoint in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh, where Indian soldiers described as ill-equipped, ill-prepared, and ill-trained fight Chinese forces, and notes that the historical war itself was spread across several locations, including Arunachal Pradesh.⁶

Story and characters

Beyond the battlefield, the series follows the personal lives of the soldiers and their families. Gadgets 360's listing notes that it touches on the implications of the war, prevailing casteism, and the courage needed outside the battlefield, and includes strategy meetings headed by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, played by Arif Zakaria, dispersed across the ten episodes.¹ Mahie Gill plays Shagun Singh, the major's wife, whose storyline includes a personal struggle with ill health; Hemal Ingle, Rochelle Rao, and Pooja Sawant play women connected to the soldiers' lives at home.³^•⁷ Meiyang Chang plays the man waging war on behalf of China, and Bijou Thaangjam appears as a Chinese soldier.⁷^•³

Most of the company's soldiers come from the Haryana town of Rewari, a detail the series carries into its home-front scenes.⁸ The episode titles run from "Hindi Cheeni Bhai Bhai?" through "At War", "Road to Shaksa La", "The Last Stand", and the finale "Escape to Victory".⁹

Reception

Critical response was divided. The Indian Express gave the series one star out of five, calling it a ten-episode disappointment that "pretends to be a period piece, but fails miserably," and criticized the use of the 1958 song "Mere naan chin-chin-chu" from Howrah Bridge over its 1962 setting.¹⁰ India Today's review found the direction, writing, and performances lacking, noted that the soldiers from Rewari neither speak in a Haryanvi accent nor dress like people from northern Haryana, and observed that the show uses the same framing device as Kabir Khan's The Forgotten Army: an elderly person recounting war stories to millennial grandchildren. The same review argued the series avoids themes such as post-traumatic stress disorder and the human cost of war.⁸ Hindustan Times called it "shrill, tacky, and jaw-droppingly amateurish" and criticized its portrayal of Nehru as a hapless figure.¹¹

More favorable reviews highlighted the production's craft. PeepingMoon, which rated the series 3 Moons, praised Karan B. Rawat's cinematography for capturing the barrenness of Ladakh, Hitesh Modak's music, and the action sequences choreographed by Don Lee, while conceding that the first few episodes lack pace and that the show spends more time on the men at home than at the warfront.⁷ Republic World called it "a gripping tale of war, valour, and relationships."¹² On IMDb the series holds a rating of 6.0.³

Context of its release

The series arrived in February 2021, at a moment when India-China border tensions were again in the news after the Galwan Valley skirmish and the Doklam stand-off, a parallel several reviewers noted.⁷ The Indian Express observed that the trailer attempts to link the series to current developments on the border to make it more topical, and that, like most Indian military dramas, it is ultimately built on patriotism and soldiers' bravery rather than a serious examination of the conflict.⁶ The show was marketed as a Hotstar Special, with its original soundtrack, including the song "Hum Shaan Se Jalne Nikle Hai", released ahead of the premiere.¹³

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026