Tango Charlie is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language war film written and directed by Mani Shankar and cinematography is by T. Surendra Reddy. The film stars Sunil Shetty, Bobby Deol, Sanjay Dutt, Ajay Devgn, Tanisha, Nandana Sen and Sudesh Berry. The film follows paramilitary man Tarun Chauhan's (Bobby Deol) journey from young border guard recruit to war-hardened fighter in the Indian Border Security Force. This movie was banned for release in Assam for allegedly defaming the Bodo community of Northeast India.
Plot
The story starts off with two Indian Air Force helicopter pilots (Squadron Leader Vikram Rathore and Flight Lieutenant Shezad Khan, played by Sanjay Dutt and Sunil Shetty respectively) discovering a mass pile of dead terrorists and an Indian trooper appearing to be dead in the Kashmir valley. They later discover that he's alive and find out who he is after reading his diary.
Insurgency in the North East
The tale revolves around an Indian Border Security Force trooper named Tarun Chauhan (Bobby Deol) in the 101st BSF Battalion arriving in Manipur. The jungle is full of Bodo rebels. While walking through the jungle searching for his platoon commander, he was caught in a trap and hung upside down. It is later revealed that Havaldar (Sergeant) Mohammad Ali (Ajay Devgn) set the trap and calls him an "idiot" for falling into it. He meets the rest of the squad where he gets his job as platoon cook. On being asked why he joined the Border Security Force, he says it is to protect his country from any harm. Havaldar Ali says that whoever has made that comment is nothing but a hypocrite. He tells him that the rebels have massacred many innocent people and are not afraid to kill them as well. Chauhan later acknowledges his codename "Tango Charlie" and learns Havaldar Ali's codename is "Mike Alpha."
One day on a patrol, the platoon accidentally kills one of their own as a set trap by the rebels. The entire platoon goes mad with grief over this mistake. Then another young soldier is kidnapped and has his stomach sliced open and is left as bait. Chauhan finds this shocking and totally unbelievable. Havaldar Ali tells his overly emotional troopers to think that he's dead and focus on killing the rebels. The dying soldier continues to scream in pain. Chauhan tries to stop one of the overly emotional soldiers from giving the wounded soldier morphine. Another member of the platoon falls into the trap and is shot dead. The screaming soldier then dies. Their platoon is finished. Chauhan and Mike Alpha (Havaldar Ali) take aim and fire. They kill most of the rebels but others, as well as their leader, escape.
At night, Chauhan and Havaldar Ali search for the remaining rebels and kill them off one by one. When the leader tries to escape by boat, both of them swim over and knock them off. They engage in hand-to-hand combat; Mike Alpha slits the throat of the rebels leader with his own machete. Chauhan tries to kill the other rebel but finds out that it's a young boy. He holds a knife to his face.
Tarun Chauhan returns home to his native state of Haryana. He is happily welcomed home by his family and friends. He finds out that he's going to be engaged to Lachchi Narayan (Tanisha), an educated computer engineer. Chauhan has beliefs about her views, but they are changed by her. They fall in love, and Chauhan pledges that he will come back to her alive.
Fighting Maoists in Telangana
A few months later Chauhan and the rest of Mike Alpha's platoon are transferred to the state of Telangana to counter the Maoists separatists wreaking havoc on the countryside. Platoon are riding in a convoy while protecting a high-ranking colonel's wife and young children. As the convoy approaches the city of Hyderabad, the rebels notice it and signal one of their own. He then presses the detonator and sets off a planted IED under the jeep, killing the colonel and his family. They fire on the trucks, causing Mike Alpha's platoon to take cover in a rocky part beside the road while the rebels hunt them down. They use an RPG launcher to flush out the troopers but fail. Chauhan and the rest of the platoon kill the rebels. Chauhan chases a rebel; another BSF trooper attempts to rape her. Chauhan intervenes by pulling him off. He then sees the rebel kill herself with her own assault rifle. The other BSF trooper tries to kill Chauhan for his intervention but he kills him in self-defense. Mike Alpha discovers the whole thing and Chauhan tries to surrender himself saying that he's willing to give into any punishment given to him. Mike Alpha says he did the right thing.