Mumbai, Dec 21 (IANS): Anil D. Ambani-led Reliance Entertainment will be releasing Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes' new film, "1917", in India on January 17.

The DreamWorks Pictures war drama tells the story of two young British soldiers at the height of the war. It stars George MacKay as Lance Corporal Schofield and Dean-Charles Chapman as Lance Corporal Blake who are given an impossible task to deliver a message deep in the heart of enemy territory that, if successful, would save the lives of 1,600 British soldiers.

For Blake, the assignment is personal as his brother is one of the 1,600 men who will die if they fail.

"I was always fascinated by the Great War, perhaps because my grandfather told me about it when I was very young, and perhaps also because at that stage of my life, I'm not sure I'd even registered the concept of war before," Mendes said.

"Our film is fiction, but certain scenes and aspects of it are drawn from stories he told me, and the ones told to him by his fellow soldiers. This simple kernel of an idea-of a single man carrying a message from one place to another-stayed with me and became the starting point for '1917'," Mendes added.

"1917" is nominated in three categories, including Best Picture and Best Director, at the Golden Globe Awards 2020. The film also won several awards in different categories at Art Directors Guild Awards, National Board of Review, Philadelphia Film Critics Circle and San Diego Film Critics Society.

DreamWorks Pictures and Reliance Entertainment is presenting the film in association with New Republic Pictures. A Neal Street production, it is produced in association with Mogambo. It also stars Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch.