Kargil Diwas: Bollywood pays tribute with tweets, football

Bollywood actors played a football match with Army and Navy personnel on Friday to commemorate 20 years of the Kargil war.

Braving heavy rains, actors Ranbir Kapoor, Abhishek Bachchan, Arjun Kapoor, Ishaan Khatter, Shashank Khaitan, Dino Morea, Sunil Shetty's son Ahan Shetty, Karan Wahi and others took on the defence forces at Cooperage ground in south Mumbai.

While B-town personalities of the All Stars FC were dressed in blue, the Army and Navy Stars team were in red.

Also, Vicky Kaushal-starrer "Uri: The Surgical Strike" was released in Maharashtra once again on Friday. Directed by Aditya Dhar, the film is based on the September, 2016 surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan as a retaliation for the Uri attack in Kashmir that claimed the lives of 17 Army personnel.

 

"I am deeply honoured that 'Uri...' is becoming a part of the Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations on 26th July. It's a wonderful initiative by our honourable Chief Minister Devendra Fadanavis sir to showcase the film in 500 locations across Maharashtra.

"I truly hope 'Uri...' keeps motivating each and every Indian for generations to join hands in serving our nation to the best of their ability," Aditya had said in a statement here.

Vicky, who played the role of an army officer in the blockbuster hit, "Happy and honoured to share that our Film #UriTheSurgicalStrike will be re-released only for today, July 26th, to commemorate Kargil Vijay Diwas.

It will be screened for free in 500 theatres across Maharashtra. Extremely thankful to the Maharashtra State Government for their support and encouragement to this initiative by @rsvpmovies. Jai Hind (sic)."

Some celebrities also took to social media to salute the country's soldiers.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan tweeted a short film released on the occasion of 20 years of Kargil victory and wrote, "To the brave shaheed of our Army .. I had the honour to give my voice for this creative film.. but if ever am asked to give my blood for the nation, I will ... JAI HIND."

Akshay Kumar shared a picture of himself with a book - "India's Most Fearless 2" and wrote, "I'm not much into books, but today as we pay tribute to our brave martyrs on 20yrs of #KargilVijayDiwas, I've picked up #IndiasMostFearless 2 by @ShivAroor & @rahulsinghx. May we never forget our soldiers whose courage and heroism lets us live in peace, day after day."

Actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar said, "Remembering all the bravehearts and martyrs with love, reverence and gratitude on this #KargilVijayDiwas .. Jai Hind.