Uri : The Surgical Strike : A surgical strike demands tactical planning , absolute, no non sense coordination
between the govt , IB ,RAW & armed
forces leadership , surgical precision in identifying assets , a contingency plan
and most importantly the element of surprise ,the unflinching valour and
tactical acumen of the leader , his assault team and their flawless execution. A
surgical strike across LOC, if not executed to perfection ,can have huge human casualty
and lots of international ramification. And
hence it provides a thrilling premise for a film , especially when it is based
on a recent , real incident , a retaliatory counter attack, often hailed as one
of India’s finest counter attacking responses across LOC , to avenge the attack
on the Uri brigade HQ where we lost nineteen soldiers . However, for debutant writer, director
Aditya Dhar this scintillating premise was not enough. Hence the film has been garnished
with generous doses of factual errors, emotional premises and amateur handling
of war room preparation.
Taking a leaf from “ Zero Dark
Thirty” and Tarantino school of film making , director Dhar splits his film
into four chapters . The first chapter sets the context focusing on Indian Army’s success in conducting
surgical strike across Myanmar in 2015 to avenge the ambush in Manipur where 18
soldiers from Dogra regiment were killed by terrorists . However from chapter
two onwards Dhar lets his figments of imagination take charge rather than
actual facts . The inconsistencies are glaring and its a pity since as a film
Uri needed none of these . The preparation and the war room moments themselves
for a strike of such magnitude , if depicted well ,can be exhilarating and
gritty . Dhar, in his attempt to make a main stream masala money spinner loses out on objective film making and ends up
making a film that manipulates emotions and facts . There was no focus what so
ever on the armed forces groundwork for the strike. The discussions and the war
room preparation in PMO and South Block looked down right stupid . Paresh Rawal
who portrays the role of NSA Ajit Doval looks lost and inconsistent throughout
the film . His drooping body language doesn’t inspire any confidence. May be he
just was an accidental choice for the film. And take this for a fact check – the NSA walks
to the DRDO head office and finds an intern who has made a drone prototype that
looks like a bird. He immediately summons the intern and asks him to join the
core team that’s monitoring the operation. The extended hand combats during the strike also defy logic
and probably shot to give a sense of macho-ism . In any strike of such type and magnitude,
the de induction process (return) becomes most critical as by the that time enemy
is alerted and the Ghatak teams have to think on their feet to survive the onslaught
and return through treacherous paths . And
while filming this Dhar has completely played to gallery at the cost of showing
the real trouble that the strike team would have undertaken.
Inspite of several glitches, Uri : The surgical Strike
will keep you engaged , especially if
you watch it as a fictional account . Vicky Kaushal gives a solid bulked up
performance and the cinematography is good. The action sequences have been shot
well . And yes you also get to see a character looking exactly like Manohar
Pariker playing the role of the defense minister . May be that’s the closest
that Aditya Dhar came while depicting a story based on “True Incidents” .
I will go out with 2.5 out of 5
for this half baked strike . All they lacked was surgical precision while telling
us the story of a surgical strike . May be someone, few years down the line
will make a more factual film on one of the most glorious chapters of Armed
forces history . A chapter where they haven’t got as much credit as their
political masters . May be that wont be an election year. May be by then Bollywood
will realise “Naya Hindustan” has “ Zero” tolerance for “Farzi” film making .
Till then let’s enjoy the pot boiler and salute the bravery of those Para SF
commandos .
