The Forgotten Army (TFA) series on Amazon Prime is a dramatized story of how the Battle of Singapore in World War II led to the creation of the Indian National Army (INA) or the Azaad Hind Fauj that was led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

"Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." ― Chinua Achebe.

Take India's history. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Azad Hind Fauj (INA) is, perhaps, the most intriguing saga in India's military history. It has rarely ever discussed or given space in our academic curriculum on India's fight for independence.

The formation of the INA in the middle of World War II was instigated by Netaji with the help of the Japanese after they defeated British forces in Singapore and captured Indian soldiers; who were offered the chance and the resources to fight for India's independence. It was a new aspect of the fight against the British Raj that was away from the motherland, and how its impact led to the last blow for the British Raj is worth exploring.

Out of these 60,000 men and women who took on a journey on foot across countries from Singapore to Burma, nearly 26,000 soldiers laid down their lives for India's freedom. The survivors who made it back to India were neither re-inducted into the army of free India, nor were they given freedom fighter's status/pension. When the founding fathers of India were drawing up their version of history, these freedom fighters fell on the wrong side and, with time, forgotten.

Considering this fact, director Kabir Khan has taken on a mammoth project and gives voice that the Azad Hind Fauj also existed. TFA series makes you weep and wonder, whose history is it anyway?

TFA starts in 1945 when the British Raj brought the 'prisoners of war' from the India-Burma border to Delhi. It wasn't the Dilli of Netaji's dreams. The show unfolds as a war veteran (Captain Sodhi) reminiscences his past during World War II.

Captain Sodhi had landed in Singapore to meet his sick sister in 1996 and soon warms up to his nephew, Amar, after initial hiccups. As the story proceeds, we are sent back and forth between the 1940s to 1996, several times.

The impressive part of this series is the rousing scenes of battles. It features a surprise Japanese attack on Singapore that you crave for more. It very effectively portrays how a battle-hardened soldier's actions depend on the command from the top of a hierarchical system. The British surrender to Japanese in Singapore (dubbed as the "worst disaster in British military history" by Winston Churchill) is a compelling moment.

A younger Sodhi, who is a soldier in the British Indian Army in Singapore, gets inspired by Netaji's clarion call 'Chalo Dilli' and joins INA. Netaji is the invisible force behind the glowing faces of the soldiers with national pride, however, without much screen presence.

Many soldiers from the British Indian Army join the INA, along with volunteers from Singapore and Malaysia. One of them is Maya, a young photojournalist who also gets inspired by Netaji and joins the Rani Jhansi Regiment. The Rani Jhansi Regiment of INA was the first time the world saw women in a warzone.

Myanmar, as the backdrop of the saga, is where the INA fought for India's freedom and its survival on its way back home from Singapore. The arduous journey of the army through the Myanmar jungles towards India is very intense. The 40's timeline has top-notch cinematography. The editing harmonizing the melodrama and brutal battle scenes in the backdrop of the wild terrain, keeps you hooked.

It was also where a love story of Sodhi and Maya finds a calming culmination, and the Bollywood mode of mush and melodrama takes precedence over the real account of the INA. On their march to India, war separates Sodhi and Maya. Sodhi is held by the British as a prisoner of war, whereas Maya stays back in Burma, fighting her own battle. Besides, there is one more unfulfilled romance. The theme seems to be: 'they were so busy fighting for the country, they didn't have enough time for love.'

Meanwhile, back in 1996, Burma (integral to INA's route to India) is in the middle of students' movement, who have taken to the streets to protest martial law. Against his father's wishes, Amar is adamant to go there to document the protests where grandpa Sodhi shoots Myanmarese soldiers and helps them escape. This sequence, and the Bollywoodish treatment of the climax, dilutes the underlying intention of the story.

While MK Raina comes up with credible performance as the older Sodhi, Sunny Kaushal, playing the role of younger Surinder Sodhi, makes FTA his own Uri. Sharvari Wagh donning the role of Maya is amazingly refreshing. With each of her teeth sparkling like pearls, her smile is so overbearing, you will definitely fall in love. Other performances by T.J. Bhanu as Rasamma, Rohit Chaudhary as Arshad, touch your heart and will stay with you.

Each episode of TFA opens with Shah Rukh Khan's voiceover giving a few bare facts and pertinent points about the Azad Hind Fauj. For instance, how the British were so scared of the INA's advancing that they banned all news about it. We learn how the survivors would be reduced to being refugees in their own country and be labeled an army of traitors before the truth emerged. Shah Rukh, as expected, is brilliant.

The Forgotten Army is not perfect. Of course, the story could have delved into more insightful details of the war. There's no perspective on Bose's alignment with Japan as an Axis power. I could feel that five episodes, each lasting around 35 minutes, were not enough to cover the depth such a critical chapter of history deserves.

However, if the purpose of this series was to exorcise the ghosts of a forgotten army, director Kabir Khan has been successful. By presenting the saga of the unsung soldiers is a first attempt to honor their memory. The historic chapter has indeed been missing from the cinema, and I am glad someone made an attempt to bring it to life.

Do watch!

Image Credits: By KevinThomas71293 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86463371