Dehradun, Dec. 2 -- 23 years ago, I made the film 'Standard Bearers' on the National Defence Academy and then followed it up with 'Making of a Warrior' on the Indian Military Academy in Dehradun. Both films were hailed by critics as being classics, but it was the NDA film that had set the tone. Initially, the Academy was set up in Clement Town, Dehradun, where old barracks that had housed captured Italian POWs during WWII had been converted to set up the Joint Services Wing. My father had been a part of 8 JSW, while his brother Vijay Dhruv had moved to Khadakwasla in his third term and was part of the second lot to pass out from NDA. My mother's immediate elder brother, Sudhir 'Marshal' Hoon was also part of the same 11th course.

In 2002...