Maya has an argument with her family when they learn that she wants to join the INA. Maya's friend Shridhar tries to console her parents by telling them that he too will join the INA, so that he can be with Maya and protect her.

Flashback ends.

Amar is having an argument with his family too. He wants to  be a photojournalist and has set his heart on covering the ongoing war in Burma. Sodhi asks Amar if he would like his company on this journey. Amar tells him that it would be an honor to go with him.

Sodhi’s flashback

Singapore

We see a group of Indian street performers turned thieves join the INA to hide from the Japanese forces.

Sodhi and Maya are at the INA registration camp and are talking about the training the new recruits will require. Maya disapproves of Sodhi's mindset that only warrior castes are fit for army and of the Britisher’s use of caste classification for their recruitment process. She tells him the only basis should be patriotism. Sodhi recognises his mistake and tells her that even women can be warriors.

1996

Amar and Sodhi reach Myanmar. Amar gets in a scuffle with armed officers at the airport when he tries to photograph them. Rani, Amar's friend, diffuses the situation and tells Amar to be careful as he is not allowed to photograph soldiers even if he has official permission.

Back in Singapore, Sodhi and Arshad volunteer to be training officers of the Rani Jhansi Regiment of INA. Sodhi is glad to see Maya is also a part of this regiment.

We also see another Indian woman part of this regiment. She has been an unnamed character in the show till now and her story runs in a side narrative. She was raped by a British man she was working for and later burned his house in revenge.

When the training starts, this woman, Rasamma sees the Indian thieves that joined the INA for protection making fun of the women regiment and making obscene gestures at them. She is enraged. She runs to him and slaps him. She screams at their audacity to ridicule women who were ready to give up their lives for their nation. She speaks in broken English but captures the attention of the whole camp. She says that she dreams of an India where no woman has to sleep with a man for a job and all genders are treated equally.

Sodhi promises that they will all fight together for the India she dreams of.

Later that night, Sodhi receives a message that Netaji wants the INA to be informed about. He arranges a meeting and announces that The British Indian Army has issued a notice that they will consider the men and women who joined INA traitors, and if they are caught, they will be executed without a trial. Sodhi tells the new recruits that they are free to leave the INA.

Next morning, Sodhi and Arshad are delighted to find that most of the recruits have decided to stay. Even the thief Rasamma had slapped, has a change of heart and doesn’t leave. Their formal training begins.

INA Training Camp

Burma December 1943

A recruit gets scared and doesn't throw the grenade. Sodhi grabs the grenade and throws it but it doesn't fall far and injures him.

He wakes up in the infirmary and finds Maya standing next to him. When he fails to hear what she is saying, he realises that he has gone temporarily deaf. They try to talk to each other while Shridhar, Maya's friend secretly watches them.

Back in present day Myanmar, Amar tries photographing a student protest where the army had started open firing. When two army men man-handle Rani, Amar tries to protect her.The army men slap, kick and then point their rifles at him. Sodhi, now old but still with sharp reflexes, grabs the gun from one of the soldiers and cocks it. The soldiers are shocked for a second but by the time they take their aim to fire at him, Sodhi shoots both of them.

What a thrilling episode! We see how both Amar and Maya’s decisions coincide. They both are brave, young and courageous. They both defy their families to follow what they believe in. 

We learn that Sodhi is not a casteist or a chauvinist, but has been under the influence of his rulers for too long and has forgotten his own beliefs. This is evident when he shares the respect he has for the struggles his mother and sister had faced with the General of Rani Jhansi regiment.

We also learn about the treatment of women in times of war. In Singapore, one of the workers in Maya’s family gets her hair chopped off because she was afraid of being raped, like her sister, by the Japanese. 

INA was one of the first armies in the world that recruited female soldiers. This was done even after Japanese refused to fund their regiment.

Rasamma’s character is strong and not easily swayed. She refuses to be belittled by men and is a strong feminist icon.

The old Sodhi surprises everyone when he shoots the soldiers in Myanmar. For me, it was the highlight of the episode. I wouldn’t mind and frankly won’t be surprised if Sodhi goes ahead and starts shooting anyone who lays a hand on his nephew.

Episode rating 4/5