Dhurandhar doctrine of national security

India's strategic establishment has been overlooking an important instrument of national security: the mighty multiplex. Arunachal Pradesh minister Balo Raja has helpfully corrected this oversight. Responding to ITBP DG Shatrujeet Singh Kapoor's observations about continuing face-offs with Chinese troops, Raja suggested watching Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar movies to appreciate India's formidable intelligence capabilities. Why consult military intelligence when one can consult the box office? The two Dhurandhars have achieved what decades of military modernisation, diplomatic negotiations and defence procurement have struggled to accomplish: establishing beyond reasonable cinematic doubt that India is no pushover. China should consider itself warned, preferably through a subtitled screening in the Forbidden City.

Like everything post-Nehruvian, there's, of course, historical precedent. Shekhar Kapur's 1987 Mr India demonstrated India's ability to defeat its Mogambos through invisibility, ingenuity and hirsute Anil Kapoor grit. The subsequent relative absence from India's security discourse of Pakistan or China, at least till the Kargil war more than a decade later, suggests the deterrent worked spectacularly. It wouldn't be too presumptuous of us to suggest that India's next defence budget should include a substantial allocation for popcorn.