It is clear from the title of this post that I loved the film. I am going to tell you why and what I liked about it. Firstly, other than some preposterous masala movies, Indian films have been astonishing lately. Uri: The Surgical Strike is one of them.
Uri is based on the surgical strike carried by the Indian army as revenge for a deadly attack at the Uri army base in September 2016. This movie is a clear revenge-drama, war, and an entertaining film. It hits straight to the point. The characters are clear and so are the acts. There are no grey areas and certainly no regular Bollywood romance.
Writer and director, Aditya Dhar, has done a commendable job at making such a grim storyline into a believable and nail-biting script. The charisma and intensity of the soldiers has been captured as required while also showing their fun-filled lives.
Vicky Kaushal has always charmed me by his fluency with the characters he has to play. As Major Vihan Shergill, he portrays the perfect balance of an army person having some emotions just like the commoners. His five months training is clearly visible in his act. Paresh Rawal, as Govind, has touched the correct nodes of a politician and a strategist. Other important characters were given justice by the actors just as needed. No over performance and no insecurities for screen space.
Uri is a fresh wave with updated war tactics and technologies being used in the warfare and in the shooting of those scenes. The night visions, drones, shaky cameras and mild heart-thumping background music give it a good mix. I definitely did not miss the slow motion for action scenes, unnecessary collisions or explosions and even the pools of strangled bodies in the blood. This is a war movie delivered gracefully and interestingly. Thankfully, the good looking actors felt secure about their looks and did not feel the need to show-off any six packs or muscles. Their expressions with the frames and context were enough to speak for their skills. That could be one of the unexplainable reasons for me to feel connected with the story – the decency and calibre of the soldiers were given more weight than the glamour quotient.
Nonetheless, it is a Bollywood film. There is some extra footage given to our hero to display his fighting spirit and take down the terrorists. There is some family drama added to build the characters and the tension behind the ‘josh’! But these things could either be ignored or just taken in as Indian filmy-flavours.
Either way, Uri is a must-watch movie! Please pay adequately for watching in order to respect the efforts and talent!