Capt Vikram Batra Birth Anniversary: Remembering Shershaah's Love Story

If Captain Vikram Batra were alive today, he would be celebrating his 50th birthday on September 9. Instead, Mother India embraced him as her own during the Kargil War 25 years ago. Yes, the war, which claimed many lives and brought forth stories of bravery and sacrifice, also gave us Captain Vikram Batra. He was posthumously honoured with Param Vir Chakra, the highest military decoration.

Not only was his wartime legacy inspiring, but his personal life was equally inspiring, leading to a movie that received widespread admiration. The 2021 biographical war film Shershaah was based on the life of Captain Vikram Batra and featured a scene where Sidharth Malhotra, playing the role of Batra, cut his finger and used the blood as sindoor, informally marrying his girlfriend Dimple Cheema, played by Kiara Advani in the movie.

The film’s writer Sandeep Shrivastava confirmed that while the scene appeared to be “filmy”, it was based on reality. Shrivastava had spoken to Cheema and she confirmed that Batra had indeed cut his finder and used his blood as sindoor.

In an interview, Shrivastava said that while researching, he spoke to Cheema and she informed him that while the couple knew each other for four years, they only spent around 40 days together.

Captain Vikram Batra Love Story: A relationship defined by sacrifice

Vikram Batra and Dimple Cheema met in 1995 at Punjab University when they were both pursuing a Master's in English. Batra left the university and joined the Indian Military Academy (IMA) after he passed the Combined Defence Services (CDS) examination.

Batra attended the IMA in Dehradun, Uttarakhand while Cheema remained in Chandigarh. He would visit Cheema in Chandigarh between his postings.

Batra and Cheema had a ritual where they visited the Mansa Devi temple and Gurudwara Sri Nada Sahab. During one of their visits to the temple, Batra walked behind Cheema during the ‘parikrama’ and after that, he said, “Congratulation, Mrs Batra”.

Cheema turned around and saw that Batra was holding one end of the dupatta and mentioned that they had completed the parikrama four times, which was a part of rituals followed in Sikh marriages.

During one of his visits, Cheema brought up the topic of marriage following which Batra took a blade from his pocket and cut his thumb. He then used the blood as a 'sindoor' and filled Cheema’s 'maang' with it.

The two planned on getting married after Batra returned from Kargil, but Batra was martyred on July 7, 1999. Batra and his team captured Point 4750 and Point 4875 before he was killed in enemy fire. Following his tragic passing, Cheema refused to marry anyone.

On August 15, 1999, Batra was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra (PVC). His father GL Batra received the honour from the late President of India KR Narayanan.