China Not Happy With Salman Khan’s New Film On The Clash In Galwan

NEW DELHI – Salman Khan is set to step into one of the most sensitive chapters of recent Indian military history with ‘Battle of Galwan,’ a big budget drama that revisits the deadly June 2020 clash between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh. The film focuses on the life and sacrifice of Colonel Bikkumalla Santosh Babu of the 16 Bihar Regiment, who was killed in action along with 19 other Indian soldiers during the confrontation in the Galwan Valley.

Directed by Apoorva Lakhia and produced by Salman Khan and his mother Salma Khan, the film traces the tense events leading up to the clash, the brutal hand to hand fighting that followed, and the personal courage of soldiers operating in extreme conditions. Salman plays Colonel Santosh Babu, who was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India’s second highest wartime gallantry honour, for his leadership and bravery.

Even before its release on April 17, the film has sparked a media backlash from China. Beijing has accused the filmmakers of misrepresenting facts, while India has defended the project as a work of cinema that takes artistic license. The controversy has reopened wounds from an incident that fundamentally altered India China relations and continues to shape border talks today.

The Galwan clash occurred on the night of June 15, 2020, at an altitude of around 15,000 feet in sub zero temperatures. Indian troops had moved to verify and remove a Chinese tent in the Galwan river valley after an earlier agreement on June 6 to disengage and create a buffer zone. The encounter escalated rapidly after Chinese soldiers allegedly targeted Colonel Santosh Babu. Reinforcements were rushed in by both sides, leading to a violent melee involving batons and improvised weapons fitted with nails.

India officially confirmed the deaths of 20 soldiers. China initially denied any casualties and later acknowledged only four deaths, a figure that has been widely disputed. Several soldiers from both sides reportedly fell into the fast flowing Galwan river, where hypothermia and drowning proved fatal.

China’s state run Global Times has sharply criticized the film, calling it an emotionally charged exaggeration and reiterating Beijing’s claim that the Galwan Valley lies on the Chinese side of the Line of Actual Control. It accused Indian troops of crossing the LAC and provoking the clash, arguments New Delhi has consistently rejected.