Uri: The Surgical Strike

About the film

Uri: The Surgical Strike is a 2019 Indian Hindi-language war action film written and directed by debutant Aditya Dhar and produced by Ronnie Screwvala under the RSVP Movies banner. An account based on the real story of the retaliation to the 2016 Uri attack, the film stars Vicky Kaushal along with Yami Gautam, Paresh Rawal, Kirti Kulhari, and Mohit Raina in pivotal roles, and tells the story of Major Vihaan Shergill (Kaushal) of the Para (Special Forces), who played a leading role in the events.

Screwvala announced the film in September 2017, a year after the 2016 Indian Line of Control strike. Principal photography began in June 2018 in Serbia where it was largely shot before being wrapped in September in Mumbai.

Plot

The first chapter opens up with an ambush in June 2015 on a convoy of Indian Army troops in Chandel, Manipur by NSCN(K) militants. In retaliation, Major Vihaan Singh Shergill, a Para SF officer and his unit, including his brother-in-law Major Karan Kashyap, infiltrate and attack the Northeastern militants and also kill the key leader responsible for the ambush. After a successful strike, the Prime Minister of India congratulates him and the whole unit at a formal dinner. Vihaan requests early retirement as he wants to be close with his mother, who is suffering from Stage VI Alzheimer's. The Prime Minister offers him a desk job at New Delhi near his mother instead of retirement, to which he agrees.

The second chapter shows Vihaan taking up a desk job at the Integrated Defence Staff HQ in New Delhi and spending time with his family. This segment also briefly describes the Pathankot attack and the Pampore attack. Nurse Jasmine D'Almeida is assigned to take care of Vihaan's mother. Vihaan meets an Indian Air Force pilot, Flight Lieutenant Seerat Kaur, who is trying to prove her patriotism to her dead husband Captain Jaskirat Singh Rangi, an army officer who died in an ambush. One day, Vihaan's mother goes missing. He searches for her, and blames Jasmine for her ignorance, saying there is no need for her security. Vihaan's mother is found under a bridge, and Jasmine reveals she is an intelligence agent.

On 18 September 2016, four heavily armed militants attack the brigade headquarters at Uri in Jammu and Kashmir at dawn, killing 19 soldiers in their sleep. The terrorists are killed, but Karan dies in a grenade explosion as he accidentally pulls the pin attached to a terrorist's rifle he picked up to examine. The whole family is devastated, including Vihaan. The Ministry decides to take strict action against the perpetrators of the attack. National Security Advisor Govind Bharadwaj suggests the idea of a surgical strike, inspired by Operation Wrath of God conducted by Israel. The Prime Minister gives it a go and gives ten days for the strike. Vihaan leaves his desk job and leaves for the Northern Command base in Udhampur. He requests Chief of the Army Staff General Arjun Singh Rajawat to add him to the operation and he agrees. Vihaan chooses the elite Ghatak Force commandos from the Bihar Regiment and the Dogra Regiment along with the special forces as most of the soldiers killed in the attack were from these regiments. Vihaan informs them they can no longer use their phones and disguises the mission as regular training exercises. The commandos begin their training.

Production

Uri was announced by producer Ronnie Screwvala one year after the surgical strike in September 2017. The film was to be directed by debutant Aditya Dhar. He said the film is "the story of what was imagined to have happened in those eleven days." Principal photography began in June 2018 and was finished in September. Kaushal went through extensive military training for five months and gained weight. He trained for five hours a day and did three to four hours of military training to enhance stamina. He also received gun training at a naval base in Cuffe Parade in Mumbai. He called it "physically the most challenging film for me". He injured his arm while filming an action sequence in the film.

Kaushal and the supporting cast trained at Mumbai's Navy Nagar with Captains and Majors teaching them slithering, using arms and ammunitions and other drills used by the armed forces. Uri was largely shot in Serbia and was wrapped up in Mumbai. The Indo-Pak border, the LOC and other areas resembling military posts and terrorist camps were recreated in Serbia. Yami Gautam underwent mixed martial arts training. She called the process of shooting "exhausting yet enjoyable." The film also stars Paresh Rawal, Mohit Raina, Ivan Rodrigues and Kirti Kulhari. Screwvala said the film has elements of "war, action, and strategy based on a true story" and the "Indian audience is yet to watch such experience in cinema."

Marketing and release

The film was released in theatres on 11 January 2019, and digitally on ZEE5 on 19 March 2019.

To curtail piracy, the makers of Uri: The Surgical Strike deployed a 3.8 gigabyte fake version of the film over networks like torrent. However, the film was leaked by the bootleg website Tamil Rockers within a week of release. The Telugu dubbed version of the film was released with the same name on 14 June 2019.

Music

The film score and songs were composed and produced by Shashwat Sachdev, with lyrics written by Kumaar, Raj Shekhar, and Abhiruchi Chand.

Key details