Thrilling, but the patriotism didn't peak

Rating: 5/10 (11 January 2019)

Uri: The Surgical Strike - This film is allegedly based on the real life surgical strikes by the Indian Army on the terrorist camps in 2016 in a bid to avenge the loss of lives of the soldiers who died in Uri. It takes off in a scintillating manner with the introduction of Major Vihaan Shergill (Vicky Kaushal) and his colleagues and soon introduces us to his family and the background why he must take up a desk job away from his border responsibilities. A slew of characters enter until the stage is set for the crisply orchestrated Uri siege resulting in a personal loss for Vihaan and he must return to his passion, this time with vengeance.
It was a fabulous build up until the interval that kept us at the edge of the seat, but like most films of 2018, Uri goes downhill in the second half. Indeed, time had to be devoted to demonstrate the planning for the strikes and the decision makers' deliberations were legitimate, but director Aditya Dhar spent too much of screen time in admiration and adulation of the government actors, leaving no stone unturned to make Uri a great advertisement for the ruling party. The timing of the film's release is essential as it clearly aims at glorifying the government's courage with an obvious motive and at some time midway, loses focus of the army's valour. It does keep the interest and thrill alive till the end, but fails to tie in several loose ends, define numerous characters and their background and incidentally, Vihaan's personal vendetta becomes secondary. Vicky Kaushal gives a fantastic performance and gets support from Yami Gautam, Swaroop Sampat, Paresh Rawal, Rajit Kapoor and Kirti Kulhari. Uri finishes on a high no doubt, but sans the goosebumps and patriotism that it was perhaps meant to induce in us.