Two very different army officers – a generation apart – performed acts of extreme courage for which each was recognised by a grateful nation with its highest gallantry award, Param Vir Chakra (PVC). A recent movie, Ikkis, recounts the life of one of the two, Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal, PVC (Posthumous). The other is Captain Manoj Kumar Pandey, PVC (Posthumous), with a story awaiting a screenplay. Both came up with the same answer to their respective combat predicaments – the ultimate in leadership.

Manoj cleared enemy sangars from the rocky heights of Khalubar ridge in the Kargil sector. Meanwhile, Arun, who joined the battle in the Basantar bridgehead, destroyed enemy tanks wielding the main gun of his own tank, even though the tank itself had been disabled earlier by a direct hit. The fierceness of the battles raging around them is clear from Kargil throwing up four brave-hearts, including Vikram “Dil Mange More” Batra and the Basantar sector, two – Khetarpal and the doughty grenadier, Hoshiar Singh.

The intriguing part is, though the two subalterns were superficially quite unlike each other, their courage suggests that deep down they were kindred souls. The dissimilarities in their background and personalities makes it difficult to catch what is the essence of such endeavour – something if captured could help the military inoculate all its junior leaders with.

Pandey, short and wiry, had his highpoint of his cadet days in striding up as team captain to collect the cross-country trophy – perhaps the most prestigious of academy trophies – at the National Defence Academy’s (NDA) famed glider dome. Not from a well-off family, he was likely irrepressibly unshod as a child. So, when the runners lined up for the start gun to go off, he would have his shoes on; but just after the start, he’d kick them off to run the rest of the rugged route – and win – barefoot.

Ikkis shows Arun similarly engaged in his last term. In the movie, he is depicted sounding a trumpet to gather his course-mates around him. He goes on to inspire them for a like collective effort,........

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