Red Fort, New Delhi July 1945.

A man is held captive in an army vehicle, he is having flashbacks of the war. We see a girl in an army uniform running and hear a voice screaming 'Maya!'

The army van stops and we see a group of captives stepping out of the vehicles.

They are the rebels from the British Indian army that joined Japanese forces during the fight of freedom. Turns out they had gathered around 50 thousand members for their cause and now captured rebels were being put to death for treason.

A montage starts playing and we learn that during World War II India had sent the largest volunteer forces to help Britain.

Singapore, 1996.

We see an old man being picked up from an airport by his distant relatives. The man hallucinates about war scenes in broad daylight and seems to suffer from PTSD. He doesn’t speak when his young nephew tries talking to him in the car. The old man is told that his sister, who they are going to meet, is not doing well.

When they get to the house the old man is given the room that belongs to Amar, the nephew. Here the man finds a bulletin board stuck with paper clippings from the current war in Burma. His flashbacks of the war return.

In the next scene we hear Amar talking to his father about going to Burma for a student protest. When his father refuses Amar walks out. The old man, his uncle, follows him and later helps him to fix his bike. Amar is impressed when he learns that his uncle knows how to ride a bike too.

Amar later reads the letters his uncle had written to his sister, Amar's grandmother, regarding his days in the war. He urges his uncle to tell him more about it. The old man whose name is revealed to be Sodhi, tells him an anecdote from when he was part of the British army and had to protect Singapore from the Japanese invasion. 

The next day Amar takes Sodhi to a war memorial dedicated to Indian soldiers and it revives Sodhi’s memories from the days of the war.

February 4, 1942.

Lieutenant Sodhi is stationed at a rubber plantation in Singapore. He believes that Japanese are going to attack at their base but the Englishman incharge of the mission rebuffs Sodhi’s intuition.

February 7, 1942

We see Japanese soldiers on bicycles crossing the rubber forest. While on the army base, Sodhi and his comrades are playing cricket with Australians that are also serving the British Army. They are unaware of their impending doom. Suddenly one of the Australians gets shot and the British Army realises they are under attack. They run to take cover but the Japanese, by virtue of the element of surprise, are already too close to them and kill many soldiers before Sodhi and his men reach the army camp.

Trench warfare begins on both sides. Canon shells are launched and Sodhi and his remaining men start firing back from their barricades.

Flashback ends and we see a now old Sodhi explaining to Amar that this battle went on for a week. He further tells him that initially they did not lose hope but later the Japanese started attacking from all the directions.

February 9, 1942

We hear Amar and Sodhi’s voice over with the visuals of the scenes of deaths during the Battle of SIngapore. Aryan says that Churchill called it the worst disaster in British military history. Sodhi reveals it was Winston Churchill’s orders that the battle should not be stopped since it was a matter of English pride and the life of the troops were not of consideration at this point.

February 13, 1942

General Percival of the British Army is seen worrying for food and ammunition. He is told that they cannot counter-attack due to constant shelling by the enemy. On the other side, the Japanese general, Yamashita is seen telling his men that they cannot stop the shelling even if they were running low on ammunition as England will try to counter attack the moment they halt. Sodhi further explains that the English were 90,000 men strong but they did not know that the Japanese only had 30,000 men.

February 14, 1942

Sodhi and his men start attacking the enemy from higher ground using a hilltop. This strategy works and they capture back their positions. At this moment Sodhi gets a call and he learns that General Percival has surrendered unconditionally. Even after winning, Sodhi and his men are forced to give up their weapons and the Japanese army takes the British army as prisoners of war. We see the Japanese start beheading British soldiers and the episode ends as a Japanese brandishes his sword in front of Sodhi and his friend Arshad.

The first episode is certainly going to make a lasting impact on the audience. The direction is done well, and the history, costume and weapons have been thoroughly researched. The concept of showing the historical story from a flashback perspective of a soldier makes it seem real and helps to get engrossed in the show. I am looking forward to the series and hope to see a historically accurate version of the Indian National Army without too many creative liberties.

Episode Rating- 4/5