 The epic film was written by Joel Sayre and Fred Guiol from a storyline by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, with uncredited contributions by Lester Cohen, John Colton, William Faulkner, Vincent Lawrence, Dudley Nichols, and Anthony Veiller.In 1999, "Gunga Din" was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.On the Northwest Frontier of India, "circa" 1880, contact has been lost with a British outpost at Tantrapur in the midst of a telegraph message.