Uri : The Surgical Strike

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 .