Ashdoc's movie review--Uri : The surgical strike

by ashdoc Mon Jan 14, 2019 2:33 pm

Based on real events that occurred in the year 2016 , this movie shows Pakistani terrorists launching a terror attack on an Indian army camp in Uri in Kashmir . The attack on sleeping Indian soldiers catches the Indian army by surprise , killing many of them . While India pretends to be ruminating over what to do , actually Prime minister Narendra Modi has given the order for retaliation in form of a surgical strike into Pakistan occupied Kashmir . The surgical strike is successful , killing scores of Pakistani terrorists in surprise attack . The movie shows a partly real and partly fictionalised version of the events .

The fiction lies in Bollywood tale of the hero Major Vihan Singh Shergill ( played by Vicky Kaushal ) losing his brother in law Major Karan Kashyap ( played by Mohit Raina ) in the Uri terror attack , and volunteering for the surgical strike to take revenge . He then successfully takes a team of commandos across the line of control to kill Pakistani terrorists in their living quarters in Pakistan occupied Kashmir . As he had promised , he kills the terrorists by entering their very homes . This is of course like a typical Bollywood revenge story .

But the major difference from other Bollywood revenge stories is that both the Uri terror attack and the retaliatory surgical strike actually happened . The movie does show the actual manner in which the Uri terrorists must have infiltrated the Indian army camp and killed Indian soldiers . And the retaliatory Indian surgical strike is the main event of the movie , for which I and the audience had come to the theatre .

The movie is successful in creating the grief of the families of those who lost their sons in the Uri terror attack . And the desire for revenge . The surgical strike is filmed brilliantly , and unfolds like an action thriller . Except the fact that the emotions are real and you do not feel detached from the events in the movie like you feel for a normal action thriller . This is your country's soldiers taking just revenge for their brothers in arms killed and hence you feel deeply connected with the movie .

The fighting has been shown well , with automatic rifles blazing and grenades exploding at regular intervals . The grenades explode creating yellow flames and the bullets hit hard sending the Pakistani terrorists to their deaths . Knives are used to sever body parts , and at times the fighting becomes physical combat . Meanwhile Bofors artillery guns keep the Pakistanis busy on the border by regular shelling . Indian troops are transported to attack by helicopters painted in Pakistani colours . The Pakistani terrorists' living quarters are booby trapped by grenades , and getting past them is a tricky task . But Major Vihan takes his men past the obstacles to annihilate the terrorists and brings Indian soldiers back to Indian territory without losing a single man , just as he had promised .

The film has war cries and patriotic chants , and they serve to heighten the drama of the movie . But there is no excessive jingoism . Paresh Raval plays a character like national security adviser Ajit Doval and he is in overall charge of the operation . Rajat Kapoor plays PM Modi . They have some tense moments as they wait in the command centre masterminding the operation . The movie has some women characters like Yami Gautam playing an intelligence agent , and Kirti Kulhari playing the pilot who flies the helicopter that takes the men back to Indian territory .

Colours of the movie are decent , and background music and songs are decent too . Acting is good by everyone . Cinematography is good , especially of the surgical strike . The movie will be appreciated by all nationalists and patriots .

Verdict---Good .

Four stars out of five .