When it comes to high octane patriotic films based on border conflicts, Bollywood directors are usually at the forefront, leading the charge. We saw how Aditya Dhar burst onto the box office with Uri: The Surgical Strike a few years back, and he followed that up last year with the enormous hit Dhurandhar. One has to wonder - why hasn't Bhai, the one and only Salman Khan, ever joined the fray in this genre? It's an open secret that Salman has a massive fan base in Pakistan and the Gulf countries, which is why he's always been wary of movies that portray neighboring nations as the bad guys. However, with 'nationalism' cinema well and truly dominating the box office for 2026, and Salman in desperate need of a comeback, he's decided he needs to switch gears. And his next target: China.
The Galwan Controversy
Directed by Apoorva Lakhia, Battle of Galwan is a film based on the 2020 military standoff in Ladakh. The event is one of India's proudest moments of bravery, but the first teaser that dropped on Salman's 60th birthday was a bit of a letdown. Instead of getting people all excited, it got flamed for being over-the-top. A lot of people felt that the hand-to-hand combat scenes just looked ridiculous rather than real. And it wasn't just the visuals - Salman got hammered on social media for supposedly only making this China-centric movie to keep his fans in Pakistan from getting upset. And then there's the fact that while Salman rarely makes films that go after our traditional rivals, suddenly this is the one he's chosen to do - all in the hopes of getting a much-needed hit.
Reshoots and Delays
The negative response has reportedly sent the production team scurrying back to the drawing board. Originally due out this April, the movie has now been pushed all the way back to August 14th 2026 to coincide with the Independence Day weekend. And the delay isn't just about moving the date - the team had to go back in and do a one-week reshoot schedule at the Golden Tobacco Factory in Mumbai on February 9th to iron out the sequences that just didn't work in the teaser. And from what's been heard, Salman's been telling the team to take their time - that a film like this of national importance needs to be nurtured, not rushed to hit a date.
The Road Ahead
Beyond the reshoots, the film now has a pretty significant regulatory hurdle to clear. As a war drama based on actual military events, it's got to get a mandatory screening and clearance from the Ministry of Defence, a process that can be a nightmare to navigate. And to make things even trickier, this sets up a massive box office collision - Salman will now be going head to head with Kartik Aaryan's Naagzilla, a supernatural comedy, on the same weekend. This was exactly what Salman needed to happen, having taken a bit of a hit with the lukewarm response to Sikandar - now with an awful lot on the line, fans are starting to wonder if Battle of Galwan will be the one that puts Salman back on the map or just adds to his woes.