In the Vicky Kaushal-starrer, Uri: The Surgical Strike, the director goes all out to develop a platform from where he can launch the final act of the story that would tug on the heartstrings of the audience. The problem is that he goes about this in a manner that does not radiate much cinematic ingenuity. At a two-hour-plus runtime, Uri: The Surgical Strike is a bland account of the Uri attacks that lacks flair needed for it to have any impact. At Film Comments we take a closer look at it in the Uri: The Surgical Strike film review.
Sketchily-depicted characters and mediocre writing only compound the film’s problems. The casting is also questionable. Both the female supporting actors appear miscast. While Kirti Kulhari has done admirably in the past, playing a listless IAF Officer, Seerat Kaur, she seems entirely out of sorts. Yami Gautam, who has not had the same luck in finding challenging parts to play, is not in her comfort zone as a RAW agent. Vicky Kaushal as Major Vihan Singh Shergill is believable and shines in his role that even though not as poorly scripted as some of the others, still doesn’t have the kind of depth to it to make it thoroughly engaging.
The rest of the supporting cast does not have much of a part to play except for Paresh Rawal and debutant Mohit Raina, both of whom do reasonably well. Although, a rather needless part of the Prime Minister, played by Rajit Kapur, and some overtly mocking portrayals of Pakistanis leave the film agonizingly close to propagandist fare.
Other issues that seem to mar the potency of the narrative are characters that appear to be planted only to further the emotional aspect of the story. A case in point being Major Vihan’s mother Suhasini Shergill, played by Swaroop Sampat, whose suffering due to Alzheimer’s comes off as somewhat sappy and contrived. Did the director need to use this as a bait to draw the audience into a film inspired from such a dramatic incident?
The cinematography is satisfactory to the extent that it captures the aerial shots of the mountainous terrain impressively, but some shaky combat sequences undermine it. Also, the dim lighting makes it difficult to follow the onscreen action. Understandably, much of it takes place in the dark, but lack of astute cinematography makes it harder for the audience to derive much from what it sees. The sound is useful in parts, but overall it lacks consistency. The dialogues though not outstanding are acceptable.
At best, Uri: The Surgical Strike is a mediocre one-time watch that will not stay in your memory for any considerable period after you exit the cinema hall. Given the matter the filmmakers had at their disposal, Uri: The Surgical Strike comes off as an underwhelming watch. A movie depicting a real-life incident could have been much more aggressive and hard-hitting.
If you go without much expectation from the movie, you might come away moderately entertained. Uri: The Surgical Strike seems like a movie made for instant gratification that lacks much depth. Unfortunately for the film, it doesn’t do all that well in delivering the former either. Vicky Kaushal will undoubtedly get credit for keeping it afloat, while the other actors won’t have any such luck.
For Uri: The Surgical Strike, its only saving grace is that a combination of a star who is in the ascendency along with a sensitive subject cannot go too awry. And, in case you are unaware of what happened in Uri in 2016, it gives a glimpse into that and how the Indian Army responded.
(2.5 / 5)
What do you think?