Be it at the war ravaged countries of Africa or the strife-torn Middle East region, the Indian Army deployed as the United Nations Peace Keeping Force (UNPKF) year after year has been winning laurels, for its sensitivity in handling issues.

So what makes the  Indian army, as part of the Blue Barets forces, to score over their counterparts world over ? Well, apart from the usual qualities associated with the armed forces like discipline, dedication and integrity another factor in the form of  ‘Bollywood’ has helped the Indian Army to be extremely successful in these strife-torn countries.

Yes, the army serving as UNPKF in many of the African countries is hugely indebted to the Indian film industry, especially Bollywood, which they say makes their job half done, while maintaining peace or while facilitating negotiations.

Barrier

“On many occasions especially while negotiating with the out-laws or the tribals in the African nations, language is a major barrier with its many dialects, it is impossible for even the locals to negotiate with them.

However, the moment we mention we are from India their attitude towards us changes and they mention about our films,” says Col Ashish Popli, an Army Supply Corps (ASC) Officer who was recently posted at Sudan, as part of the Indian UNPKF contingent.

Action matters

Action films score over others as far as the out-laws are concerned. The popular hindi film heroines are a big hit among them.

“In cases of hostage releases, usually they demand money or arms but with us at times they have settled for a exchange of hostages with Hindi movie CDs, photographs of actors etc,”  adds Col Popli, who oversaw logistics arrangements for the UNPKF in Sudan,

Apart from the Bollywood phenomenon the Indian troops is also known for its sincerity, which makes the Indian army stand above the rest, say officers.

Not easy

“These are countries where genocide, arson and rapes are quite common, to operate in these hostile territories on peace keeping missions, where one cannot use or display weapons is extremely difficult. Yet our troops command more respect and trust than any other army”,says Brigadier JS Jagdev, who has served in counter-insurgency operations.

This is probably  because we understand the mindset of the natives of these third world countries better unlike the western countries, he added.