Pakistan slams India’s Bollywood-style portrayal of last year’s conflict Operation Sindoor film accused of masking military failure

Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has strongly criticised an Indian “Bollywood-style” documentary about Operation Sindoor, accusing its creators of having hastily compiled “propaganda video to project a military blunder as a successful endeavour,” according to Caliber.Az, citing Kashmir Media Service.

In a statement, ISPR said: “More than a year after Marka-i-Haq, India refuses to face the harsh reality. Instead of conceding defeat in a failed venture, India has decided to colour history in her preferred hues.”

Last year’s military conflict with India — beginning with the April 22 Pahalgam attack and ending with Operation Bunyan-ul-Marsoos and a ceasefire following US intervention — was dubbed “Marka-i-Haq” (Battle of Truth) by Pakistan.

“To achieve this mutilation of history, Indian content creators have produced a highly dramatised, coloured and factually inaccurate account of so-called Operation Sindoor, packaged as a documentary featuring senior political and military leadership of India,” ISPR said. “For its lack of nuance and seriousness, the documentary can be characterised as a tragedy and a comedy at the same time. Selectively edited interviews, emotional narration and cinematic Bollywood style reconstruction have been used to alter established facts and rewrite the operational outcome.”

The statement noted that the documentary’s account of events contains “fundamental contradictions, exposing a belated attempt to manufacture a domestically palatable version of events.” It also stressed that the claim of “100 per cent mission success” was “equally detached from operational record.”

“During Marka-i-Haq, Pakistan’s armed forces successfully thwarted Indian aggression and shot down 8 military aircraft. Pakistan subsequently conducted Operation Bunyanum Marsoos, employing Fatah precision-guided rockets and missiles, PAF precision munitions, long-range loitering munitions and precision artillery against 26 military targets,” the statement said.

ISPR also noted that the documentary contradicts itself regarding the dynamics of the conflict’s escalation. “These competing claims expose the production as a carefully constructed domestic narrative rather than an objective military account. <...> It has cobbled together a propaganda video to project a military blunder as a successful endeavour,” the statement said.

The department further stressed: “No amount of cinematic reconstruction can change the chronology, erase aircraft losses, conceal military casualties, alter the military engagements that actually took place or convert a battlefield defeat into a self-proclaimed victory.”

The statement added that “Pakistan has no need to manufacture a narrative around Marka-i-Haq. The operational record, battlefield evidence, diplomatic exchanges and India’s own subsequent statements speak for themselves and are widely acknowledged by international community.”

“Pakistan remains committed to regional peace and stability. At the same time, the armed forces of Pakistan remain fully prepared and capable of defending the country’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and national interests. Any future military misadventure will be met with a firm, decisive and disproportionate response, after which no amount of cinematic perjury will be able to provide any face-saving to India,” ISPR concluded.