At the age of 21, Indian army officer and tank commander, Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal was killed in action in the Battle of Basantar during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971. His bravery earned him the Param Vir Chakra posthumously. On January 1, 2026, a film based on Arun’s life, his courage and martyrdom titled Ikkis will release in theatres, starring Agastya Nanda, Simar Bhatia and Dharmendra. Ahead of the same, filmmaker Sriram Raghavan hosted a special screening of Ikkis for Arun’s younger brother Mukesh Khetarpal, who was left emotional as he relived every moment.
Speaking to filmmaker Sriram Raghavan after watching Ikkis, Arun Khetarpal’s brother Mukesh Khetarpal shared, “My grouse is you made me cry. You made me relive certain things that were in my mind, and moment by moment, when I saw it on the screen, I got so emotional, I couldn’t stop crying. Now that I’ve seen the movie, the movie is 10 times or maybe 20 times or 100 times of what we see in the trailer. Oh, fantastic.” Talking to Agastya Nanda, who portrays Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal in the film, Mukesh shared, “Whatever else you are, you will be Arun for life. There is no taking that away from you. Well done.” He went on to give Agastya a hug.
A week ago, Agastya’s grandfather and veteran superstar Amitabh Bachchan reviewed Ikkis. Big B shared, “Tonight to see him in frame, unable to take my eyes off each time he fills the frames of the film… his maturity, his unfiltered honesty in his performance, his presence justifying the character he portrays… nothing frith or froth, just the Arun Khetarpal soldier, who fought in his bravery as the 21-year-old, defending the nation during the India-Pak war of 1971… nothing excessive, just the perfection in every shot.” He further added, “When he is in the frame you only watch him, and this is not a grandfather speaking, this is a hardened viewer of cinema. And the film, flawless in its presentation… its writing… its direction… and when it ends, the eyes filled with tears of joy and pride, unable to speak out.”