Yangon Myanmar

August 25, 1996

Amar, Sodhi and Rani try to escape the riots in the city. They board a passing train. Later they run into a forest. Rani informs them that the guide who was with them during the riots would have probably given the army their descriptions. Sodhi recognises the forest and tells them that he knows the way to Indian border through a river. 

Rangoon Burma

July 1943

Sodhi and his regiment are on a train on their way to the Indian border to fight in Imphal, Manipur. Their train gets attacked by an air strike. Sodhi motivates everyone by saying that this is the start of their freedom struggle. INA begins to chant Chalo Dilli!

They cross their journey on foot and reach the forests near the Indian border. Here, Sodhi learns that his regiment was going to be seperated from Maya's.

India-Burma Border

April 14, 1944

INA and the British Army start to fire at each other. INA goes past the British bunkers and enters India but with extreme casualties.

Flashback ends

Rani asks him if he knows anyone by the name of Janki in the INA. Sodhi says no. She says Janki created a school for girls in Manipur and was like her grandmother. She had also fought in the freedom struggle.

The army is close to finding Sodhi and his group. They bribe a Burmese boat owner and cross the river. In the boat, Amar asks Sodhi if he believed that the INA could win the Battle of Imphal. Sodhi says that they weren't thinking of winning, they were there to make a sacrifice.

India-Burma Border

May, 1944

The Japanese army orders INA to dig trenches and wait for their instructions to attack. Sodhi and Arshad feel that the Japanese are not letting them fight head on with the British Army and are trying to control the INA. Later, the Japanese fail to provide the INA with food and water supplies that were promised before.

Suddenly, British aircrafts fly over their camp. Initially everyone thinks that this is an attack. But the aircrafts are there to drop flyers over the INA camp. In the flyers it is written that the Japanese army will always treat them as slaves and the INA should surrender to Britain as they promise to let them go back to their families in India.

Later, Imphal receives excessive rains and it cuts off INA’s supply lines. Shridhar, the medical help announces that malaria and dysentery is quickly killing the soldiers in the infirmary. The food shortage becomes so bad that they resort to eating leaves. But the INA keeps on fighting with the British.

3 months after the Battle of Imphal

The Japanese army gives INA orders to retreat. Rani Jhansi Regiment refuses to follow the orders and they try going to Sodhi’s regiment to help them. Back at Sodhi’s camp, we see dozens of soldiers dying day by day.

This episode ends on a somber note. Sodhi and his men’s survival looks bleak. The Japanese just like the British have betrayed the Indians. The British Army’s proposal to surrender looked fascinating, but INA refused it even when they knew that they didn’t have enough food or medical supplies to survive the monsoon.

We learn that the thief that had joined the INA was not even born in India but felt so inspired by Rasamma’s patriotism that he later gave his life for a country he had never even seen. He asks his friend to give Rasamma his flute after his death, because he knew she liked to hear him play. 

We also see Sodhi and Maya growing close to each other. Maya is shocked but delighted to find her photograph hidden in Sodhi’s notebook. They promise to meet each at Red Fort after the war is over and get their photographs clicked together.

The Japanese general who was commanding Sodhi’s regiment commits hara-kiri because he is ashamed that he and his country fail to protect INA. This tells us a bit about the importance of esteem in Japanese tradition.

We are curious to see how Sodhi manages to escape his impending death. Does he meet Maya again? Have they reunited in the current timeline? Also what did the first scene in episode one at the Red Fort signify?

Episode rating 3/5