The Ghazi Attack

About the film

Ghazi, later titled The Ghazi Attack, is a 2017 Indian period war film written and directed by Sankalp Reddy. Produced in Telugu cinema, the film was shot simultaneously in Telugu and Hindi languages. The film stars Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, Rana Daggubati, Taapsee Pannu and Satya Dev.

Ghazi is inspired by the sinking of PNS Ghazi during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The story follows a submarine of the Indian Navy, an executive naval officer, and his team, who remain underwater for 18 days. The film depicts the valour of the crew aboard the Indian submarine INS Karanj (S21), which—according to Indian claims—destroyed the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi when it entered Indian waters with the objective of destroying INS Vikrant off the coast of Visakhapatnam.

Plot

In November 1971, India and Pakistan are on the verge of declaring war on each other as a result of the refugee crisis precipitated by the Pakistan Army under Operation Searchlight. The Indian Navy and RAW decipher a secret code sent from Pakistan to East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh), relating to a possible attack on an Indian naval vessel. The Navy deduces that the target may be INS Vikrant, India's sole aircraft carrier. The top command dispatches the submarine S21, under the command of Captain Ran Vijay Singh, for reconnaissance missions. To temper Singh's belligerent tendencies, the Indian Navy Admiral assigns Lt.Cmdr Arjun Varma to S21, with orders to ensure that Singh does not confront any Pakistani warships and trigger a war.

The Navy's top command soon learns that the Pakistan Navy has dispatched PNS Ghazi, under Cmdr. Razak Khan, to the Bay of Bengal to confront Vikrant. Meanwhile, to divert the attention of the enemy, Ghazi torpedoes an Indian merchant ship. The attack is picked by S21, which races to the scene. Noticing survivors in the wreckage, Arjun jumps into the sea and manages to rescue a girl child and a woman, both of whom are Bengali refugees. During surveillance, S21 acquires a sonar signal of Ghazi.

Singh believes that they should track down Ghazi and attack, while Arjun obstructs, reiterating his instructions. Singh then orders the ship's EXO, Lt. Commander Santosh Devraj, to conduct a drill and target Ghazi while doing so, despite Arjun's protests. They fire a torpedo, which misses Ghazi narrowly, thus alerting them of their presence. Aware of the enemy's presence, Razak orders his crew to head towards Visakhapatnam Port at full speed and to set up mines en route, planning to destroy S21.

Production

PVP Cinema has produced the film. Karan Johar distributed the Hindi version. The music is composed by K. Visual Effects handled by Eva Motion Studios.

The film stars Rana Daggubati and Taapsee Pannu in the lead along with Kay Kay Menon, Satyadev, Atul Kulkarni, Ramanuj Dubey, Kunal Kaushik, Priyadarshi Pulikonda, Rahul Singh, Akshay Mittal, Malyaban Lahiri and Naren Yadav. Cinematography is done by Madhi, music composed by K, Visual Effects Supervisor Vasudeva R Enugala and editing by Sreeker Prasad.

The film shooting started on 3 January 2016.

Historical accuracy

It is not so sure to say that "Indian Navy sunk the PNS Ghazi on 3 December 1971 at the Vishakhapatnam harbour when then Captain Inder Singh of INS Rajput ordered the attack upon it". Because Indian Navy official Vice Admiral Gulab Mohanlal Hiranandani said in his book (Transition to Triumph: history of the Indian navy, 1965–1975) "the truth about ghazi is unknown to many" and Pakistan Navy and neutral analysts believes the Ghazi might have sunk due to it mistakenly entering its own minefield and collided with one of the mines, which resulted in the violent underwater explosion. Historically sinking of German submarine U-864 remains the only incident in the history of naval warfare where one submarine sank another while both were submerged.

Box office

Ghazi grossed a total of ₹62 crore (US$6.5 million) overall, including ₹55.3 crore (US$5.8 million), with a share of ₹24.45 in India and ₹6.7 crore overseas.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 6 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.7/10.

Prasanna D Zore of Rediff said that, "The Ghazi Attack is a riveting telling of a war story" and gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5. Bollywood Hungama gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 saying that the movie "is a gripping war drama that leaves a stunning impact." Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "While the visuals and special effects lack finesse, the film compensates for it with its riveting story. Despite the hitches, this underwater thriller is worth a watch."

Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 saying that, "The Ghazi Attack delivers many a riveting moment and is bolstered by the talent of a few capable actors. Its plot, however, is devoid of any mystery." Shalini Langer of The Indian Express gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 5 saying that the film "could have been an engrossing crisis-at-sea drama but the film is so busy slaying Pakistanis that it loses sight of its core strengths." Divya Pal of News18 criticized the screenplay and direction of the film and gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 5 saying that, "All in all, "The Ghazi Attack" is utterly disappointing."

Key details