Tomorrow is the 2nd anniversary of the first ever surgical strikes that was not only executed brilliantly by the special paratrooper forces of our Indian Army, but also duly publicized as a strong message to the trigger happy neighbors from Pakistan, who hate to see us in peace, especially in the wake of the dastardly terror attacks that claimed 19 soldiers at the Uri base camp in September 2016.
Nothing could’ve been better than such an opportune moment in order to launch a snippet into the journey behind this daredevil task. Titled ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’, this war drama, based on the historical surgical strikes, and written, as well as directed by debutant director Aditya Dhar, will hit the silver screens on 11 January 2019. The teaser was launched by noon, and is gaining an impressive popularity, garnering 150000+ views in barely 4 hours, with approximately 17500+ likes.
The teaser begins with the haunting introduction of the Uri attacks, and a chilling message that is narrated in the voice of Paresh Rawal, who is essaying the role of National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval, one of the chief brains behind this daredevil mission. In his calm but goosebumps inducing voice, he announces, ‘1947, ‘65, ‘71…..99,……….Yahi mauka hai unke dil mein dar bithane ka….’, as the scene quickly transforms to the mission that is now famous as India’s retribution for their fallen.
The teaser does not only induce goosebumps in each moment, it also sends a powerful message, even if in some pockets, the Indian film industry, especially Bollywood, is ready to accept a change in the narratives. It’s not a rocket science to figure out why Bollywood has been averse to making genuine war movies, with a few notable exceptions like Vijeta, Border, Lakshya etc. , so it is heartening to see an earnest effort put into showing an effective war drama.
Even though only actor has been focused upon in this teaser, i.e. Vicky Kaushal, the other actors in the teaser also make their presence felt. Be it the man who looks like a mirror splitting image of the then Defence Minister, Shri Manohar Parrikar, or the girl, who almost chokes some of our throats with her tearful salute, or even the goosebump inducing voice of Paresh Rawal, the teaser has made its presence felt. Even Mohit Raina, the celebrated television actor, has a blink and a miss appearance in the latter half of the teaser.
The star of this teaser, is however the presentation of the content. As mentioned, Bollywood is famous for very few war dramas that can be deemed as movies worth their salt. As such, the modern movie buffs were pining for one such movie that could match the levels of ‘American Sniper’, ‘Saving Private Ryan’ etc. Even though it’s too early to say this, one can see a faint but significant glimpse of such promise in ‘Uri’ teaser. For the role of Vicky Kaushal, words will fail here.
As the charming teaser of ‘Uri’ only aggravates our longing for an explosive war drama, we can say with pride that even if very slowly, our Bollywood is changing. With movies like ‘Baahubali’ setting benchmarks in regional cinema, and movies like ‘Parmanu’, ‘Raazi’ forcing filmmakers to make an extra push for more engaging movies, we are optimistic of a bright future ahead for our Indian cinema.
