ETimes called Capt. Nagappa and it didn’t take long for him to agree to the interview. This is a very emotional interview which you must watch. Click below to get the full conversation:
In the above chat, Capt Nagappa says that he was impressed by his first meeting with Capt Batra, which happened at the army mess. Later, he met her at the border before the start of the Kargil War and Captain Batra asked her to hug him saying, “Gale lag na na jane ki mulaqat last hogi”.
Captain Nagappa has described in detail the time when a grenade was thrown at his bunker. “I threw the grenade back but unfortunately it hit a boulder and came back at me”. It exploded seconds later, but not before Captain Nagappa jumped to his right. Almost the next moment Captain Batra was standing in front of him. “He dragged me to a safe place and said ‘Fear No, I have come’.”
Captain Nagappa reveals that behind his dining table is a picture of Captain Batra. After Captain Nagappa recovered a bit – and it took him 21 months and eight surgeries before he could mingle with people – Captain Batra’s parents came to his home. “He saw the picture and it was a very emotional moment for him. Auntie (Mrs. Batra) said, ‘We have lost Vikram, Naveen has found it’.”
We also spoke to Captain Nagappa about ‘Shershah’ and Sidharth Malhotra, who played Captain Vikram Batra in the film. Captain Nagappa said that he liked the film and watched it after 15 minutes as soon as it came on OTT.
Kiara Advani played the role of Dimple Cheema, the love interest of Captain Batra. But Captain Nagappa did not meet him. “Vishal Batra (Captain Vikram Batra’s brother) and his parents have protected Dimple’s privacy. I respect that and we all should.”
Captain Nagappa cannot run today. But he moves fast enough to fulfill all his duties. He has a central government job as a superintendent engineer and tells his daughter that if Captain Batra had not been there, she would not have been born in this world.
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