Understated Wonderful Film-making

Rating: 9/10 (12 January 2019)

The action opens with the Indian Army convoy ambush by the NSCN terrorists in Manipur in 2015. The bullets sound shriller in the untouched beauty of the north-eastern state. While this has been routine in Naxal / Terror infested areas of India for some time now, the hot pursuit of these elements into Myanmar is new. This sets the tone for the film apart from establishing Major Vihaan Shergill (Vicky Kaushal) as a celebrated special forces officer with a reputation for great planning and execution in the field.
The movie unfolds into a straight narrative of the Uri attacks and India's response in the form of a surgical strike on terror launch pads in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The film excels in that all aspects of film-making here are in the service of the story. The dialogue writing is crisp and relatable. The movie speaks like regular army soldiers / officers would, occasionally overtly patriotic but seldom jingoistic. The editing is very tight and the story doesn't lag at all. In fact one feels it is shorter than the average Bollywood film which at 127 minutes it is not. The background score is effective without calling attention to itself. The music / songs add a lot to the atmosphere of the film especially because it is used in just the right quantity and at the right moments.
It makes a lot of points very subtly. In the CCS (Cabinet Committee on Security) meeting, a character throws an aside about the terrorists being the enemy and not the Pakistani people but a limited war is still an option. These are just the realities of the situation and not an ideological dove vs hawk divide. Women play a key part at the highest level both in combat and non-combat roles. But they are treated as officers like anybody else. No artificial Patriarchy vs. Feminism divide here. Muslims playing key roles in the attack in PoK is simply a reflection of the reality of the Indian Army. The simple fact that the script does not call attention to it does more service to the non-communal nature of the armed forces than any chest-beating could. It is a fact and is treated as such. The terrorists do not hesitate to kill another Muslim defeating their whole argument of Jihad and reducing this to cynical powerplay. The film does not throw this in your face but moves on with its storytelling hoping you will notice it. Organisations like ISRO and DRDO are referred to and their key contribution to the defence establishment and some foibles are depicted equally effortlessly. A lot of films in the past have been consumed by the controversy of some of these points and feel obligated to take positions once way or the other. Uri succeeds in that it treats a lot of them as non-issues in its telling of the story.

It also avoids the trap of depicting the adversary as a bumbling idiot. Pakistan's intelligence and defenses are shown to be quite competent including the terror camps. While the operation itself succeeds with little real tension of the Indian forces facing a setback (a reflection of how it really went), it is simply because of the completely unexpected gambit and some luck. There was a very real possibility of it going the other way. In fact the Uri attack itself was very successful from a Pakistani viewpoint possibly due to similar reasons. That does not mean the India defenses are not strong but simply that reality has innumerable variables with a lot of them not really in anybody's control and every player does their best to get the most optimum outcome.
The film goes about its business with military precision with few wasted words or emotions but it has a very human core. The question of a serving officers responsibility to his own family and the family's forbearance in the face of tragedy are shown with a lot of heart. The stoic exterior is not because of a lack of emotion but despite a lot of it. As an anguished wail of the battalion's motto by Major Karan's daughter is answered by the battalion, Major Vihaan's choked war cry carries more feeling then lengthy monologues or entire movies do sometimes.

The acting is very competent by all of the cast. Paresh Rawal, Yami Gautam et al deliver very reliably which is what the need here is. However, the script does revolve around Major Vihaan with most of the key dialogues delivered by his character. And Vicky Kaushal does it justice portraying the Major in a wonderfully nuanced manner. The best part of his depiction of the role is that he continues to operate in the framework of the film by being frugal with his words but not his emotions. I feel it is harder to add nuance to a relatively non-complex character and that's what he succeeds at beautifully.
This is a movie that will bear the scrutiny of repeated watching and while it may not attain the cult status of Border (a breakthrough when it came), it is a very worthy follower of the War film tradition.