URI : The Surgical Strike
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. A fictionally dramatised account of the true event 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 (Vicky 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. The principal photography began from June 2018 in Serbia where it was majorly shot before being wrapped up in September in Mumbai. It was released on 11 January 2019 to critical acclaim from critics and audiences alike, praising the performances of the cast, screenplay, action sequences, sound design, direction and technical aspects and was also a recipient of various accolades including four National Film Awards.
Made on a budget of ₹44 crore, Uri: The Surgical Strike grossed ₹342.73 crore (US$48.67 million) worldwide, emerging as the fourth highest-grossing Hindi film of 2019.
Plot
The film is divided into five chapters.
The Seven Sisters (North-east India)
The first chapter opens up with an ambush in June 2015 on the convoy of the 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. At a formal dinner, the Indian Prime Minister felicitates him and the entire unit for a successful strike. Vihaan asks for an early retirement because he wants to be close to his mother, who has Stage VI Alzheimer’s. Instead of retiring, the Prime Minister offers him a desk job near his mother in New Delhi, which he accepts.
An Unsettling Peace (New Delhi, India)
The second chapter shows Vihaan taking a desk job at the Integrated Defence Staff HQ in New Delhi and him spending time with his family. The Pathankot attack is also briefly discussed in this section. Vihaan’s mother will be cared for by a nurse by the name of Jasmine D’Almeida.
Vihaan meets an Indian Air Force pilot named Flight Lieutenant Seerat Kaur, who is trying to prove her patriotism to her martyred husband, who was 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, stating that there is no need for her security. Jasmine comes out as an intelligence agent after Vihaan’s mother is discovered under a bridge. The film reveals why the families of the special forces soldiers were given security due to the threat from the North-eastern terrorists.
Bleed India with Thousand Cuts (Uri, Jammu Kashmir, India)
On 18 September 2016, four heavily armed militants attack the brigade headquarters at Uri, Jammu and Kashmir at dawn, killing 19 soldiers in their sleep. Karan accidentally pulled the pin that was attached to the terrorist’s rifle, which he picked up to examine, and while the terrorists are killed, Karan is killed in a grenade explosion. Everyone in the family, including Vihaan, is devastated. The Ministry decides to take strict action against the perpetrators of the attack. Govind Bharadwaj, the National Security Advisor, suggests carrying out a surgical strike.
The Prime Minister approves it and grants the strike ten days. Vihaan leaves his desk job and travels to the Udhampur base of the Northern Command. He asks General Arjun Singh Rajawat, the Chief of the Army Staff, to include him in the operation, which he accepts. Because the majority of the soldiers killed in the attack belonged to these regiments, Vihaan selects the special forces and the elite Ghatak Force commandos from the Bihar Regiment and the Dogra Regiment. They are informed by Vihaan that they can no longer use their phones, and the mission is disguised as routine training. The commandos begin their training.
Naya Hindustan (New India) (New Delhi, India)
Govind hires DRDO for drone surveillance, ISRO for satellite images, and RAW for intelligence during the planning process. When he goes to meet DRDO Chief Brian D’Souza, he meets an intern named Ishaan, who has created a drone called Garuda that looks like an eagle and has the shape of one. With the help of the drones and satellite images they can get the exact location of the hideouts and training camps of the terrorists.
Jasmine reveals her true name as Pallavi Sharma to Vihaan, and during an interrogation, the two extract information about who planned the attack. He chooses Seerat to be his pilot, who agrees wholeheartedly. Govind also suggests intensifying the artillery shelling at the border for distraction and painting their assault helicopters with Pakistani Air Force markings. Under Vihaan, the commandos also begin their training. Underestimating the Indian activities, Pakistani officials dismiss their suspicions.
The strike (POK, Pakistan)
On the night of 28 September, the commandos leave for the strike in Pakistan occupied Kashmir in Mi-17 helicopters. The latest information from spies in Pakistan indicates that the Pakistani Army has deployed an “AWAC” early warning radar-based surface to air missile system in the Muzaffarabad sector to bring their helicopter down, preventing Vihaan’s helicopter from crossing the Line of Control during the mission. He and his team improvise by going on foot through a cave (which was very risky due to darkness and the unknown presence of other terrorists). His team successfully infiltrate and kill all the terrorists on the two launchpads.
Similarly, other commando teams also manage to kill all of the terrorists. Vihaan kills Idris and Jabbar, who are the perpetrators of the Uri attack. The local police are alerted, and the commandos who are low on ammunition and time escape. Gunfire from both a nearby machine gun bunker and a Pakistani Air Force Mi-17 Helicopter, which was scrambled to intercept Vihaan’s team, heavily rains down on them as they return.
Flight Lieutenant Seerat comes to their rescue by firing back at the Pakistani gunship, thus driving it away and eliminating the machine gun bunker. His team crosses the Line of Control without incident on the Indian side. The rest of the assigned teams are also successful and are back with no casualties. At Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, Vihaan lands. He, Pallavi, Govind, and the commandos enjoy a formal dinner with the Prime Minister at the end of the film.
In a post-credits scene, Zameer, a Pakistani minister, wakes up and shouts in frustration while seeing the news of India’s successful surgical strike. “Jai Hind” appears on a title card as the scene cuts to it.
Cast
Credit – (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uri:_The_Surgical_Strike#Cast)
- Vicky Kaushal as Major Vihaan Singh Shergill, team leader (Para SF) (character based on colonel Kapil Yadav)
- Paresh Rawal as National Security Advisor Govind Bhardwaj (character based on Ajit Doval)
- Rajit Kapur as Prime Minister of India (character based on Narendra Modi)
- Rajvir Chauhan as Captain Uday Singh Rathod (Para SF officer)
- Yami Gautam as Jasmine D’Almeida / Pallavi Sharma, an undercover RAW agent
- Kirti Kulhari as Flight Lieutenant Seerat Kaur (IAF officer)
- Mohit Raina as Major Karan Kashyap, Vihaan’s brother-in-law (Para SF sniper) (character based on Late Colonel MN Rai)
- Akashdeep Arora as Ishaan Wattal (Intern at DRDO)
- Manasi Parekh as Neha Shergill Kashyap, Karan’s wife and Vihaan’s sister
- Yogesh Soman as Defence Minister of India Ravinder Agnihotri (the character based on Manohar Parrikar)
- Swaroop Sampat as Suhasini Shergill, Vihaan’s mother
- Shishir Sharma as COAS General Arjun Singh Rajawat (the character based on General Dalbir Singh Suhag)
- Satyajit Sharma as Lieutenant General Ajay Garewal (the character based on Lieutenant General Deependra Singh Hooda GOC Northern Command (India))
- Riva Arora as Suhani Kashyap, Vihaan’s niece[citation needed]
- Dhairya Karwa as Captain Sartaj Singh Chandhok (Para SF officer)
- Padam Bhola as Vikram Dabas (Para SF commando)
- Anurag Mishra as K. S. Venkatesh (Para SF commando)
- Navtej Hundal as Home Minister of India (character Based on Rajnath Singh)
- Ivan Rodrigues as Brian D’Souza (DRDO chief)
- Kamal Malik as Interior Minister of Pakistan
- Sukhwinder Chahal as a Pakistani police officer of POK
- Ujjwal Chopra as Shahid Khan, Aasma’s husband
- Rukhsar Rehman as Aasma Khan
- Abrar Zahoor as Idris Khan
- Sunil Palwal as Jabbar Firozi
- Rakesh Bedi as Senior Pakistani ISI officer
- Nishant Singh as Rahil Hussain
- Ajit Shidhaye as Zubair Mehmood, a Pakistani army officer
- Aamir Yaseen as Pakistani Terrorist(Involved in Uri Attack)
- Adarsh Gautam as Afzal Lateef, a Pakistani army officer
- Anil George as Zameer, a Pakistani minister
- Thiago Juliaci as Anushka
Our General Review
When you watch Uri: The Surgical Strike, you’re not just watching a movie; instead, you’re strapped into a high-stakes, adrenaline-pumping ride that hits you square in the chest and won’t let go until the credits roll. Directed by Aditya Dhar and released in 2019, this isn’t your typical Bollywood fare with song-and-dance interludes or over-the-top melodrama.
Uri, on the other hand, is a beast of a different kind. It is a raw, unflinching war thriller that grabs you by the collar and drags you into the muddy trenches of retribution, honor, and sacrifice. It’s a film that doesn’t just tell a story; it makes you feel the weight of every bullet, every decision, and every life lost in the name of a nation.
The movie kicks off with a gut punch—a dramatized yet chilling depiction of the 2016 Uri attack, where 19 Indian soldiers were killed in a cowardly ambush by terrorists at an army base in Jammu and Kashmir. You can feel the tension coil like a spring from the very first frame, the air thick with the chaos of gunfire and the shattering screams of soldiers caught off guard.
It’s more than just an inciting incident; it’s a declaration of war and a wound that spreads beyond the screen and into your conscience. Then comes the line that reverberates throughout the movie like a battle cry: “How’s the josh?” followed by a ferocious “High, sir!” The pulse of Uri, a mantra that ignites the passions of every soldier and viewer, is more than just dialogue.
Vicky Kaushal steps into the boots of Major Vihaan Shergill, the steely-eyed Para Special Forces officer who becomes the spearhead of India’s retaliation. Kaushal is Vihaan, not just the actor who plays him. There’s a quiet ferocity in his eyes, a simmering rage wrapped in discipline, and a vulnerability that peeks through when he’s with his family—especially in those tender moments with his ailing mother, played by a heartbreakingly understated Kirti Kulhari.
This is not a man looking to make a name for himself; rather, it is a soldier who is motivated by a duty that is bigger than him and is haunted by the spirits of his fallen brothers. Kaushal carries the film on his shoulders with a performance that’s both restrained and explosive, like a grenade with the pin half-pulled.
The plot moves in a methodical, precise, and relentless manner, much like a strategic playbook. In a clear nod to Ajit Doval, the Indian government authorizes a surgical strike across the Line of Control into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir following the Uri attack, led by uncompromising Paresh Rawal as National Security Advisor Govind Bhardwaj.
The scenes that follow are a masterclass in buildup: scenes of gathering intelligence that are frantic, training scenes that make you feel the strain and sweat, and war room discussions that are brimming with the stakes of a nation on edge. Pallavi Sharma, an intelligence officer with steely nerves, is played by Yami Gautam, who adds a sharp edge to the mix. Mohit Raina, playing a fellow soldier, reminds you of the brotherhood that ties these warriors together.
But the real fireworks—and trust me, they’re worth the wait—come in the film’s second half, where the surgical strike itself unfolds. This is not the glossy, CGI-heavy war pornography of Hollywood. This is gritty, hands-on-the-ground filmmaking that makes you feel like you’re following the commandos as they sneak into enemy territory at night.
Mitesh Mirchandani’s cinematography is a revelation, with claustrophobic close-ups of soldiers’ camouflaged faces, expansive drone shots of rugged terrain, and night-vision sequences that take you right into the action. Every muffled footstep, muffled gunshot, and whispered “Target down” hits like a punch. The payoff is thrilling, but the tension is oppressive. You’re not just watching a mission—you’re holding your breath with them, praying they all make it back.
The soundtrack, composed by Shashwat Sachdev, is the unsung hero here. It’s not loud or intrusive—it’s a slow burn, a heartbeat that builds from mournful strings to triumphant horns, mirroring the emotional arc of vengeance to victory. The background score doesn’t overpower the silence of the strike; it amplifies it, making every quiet moment feel like the calm before a storm. And when the storm comes to an end? It’s complete release.
Uri isn’t without its flaws, though they’re easy to overlook when you’re this invested. Some might argue the film leans hard into jingoism, painting Pakistan as a faceless enemy with little nuance. The dialogue occasionally deviates into chest-thumping territory, such as when it says, “Yeh naya Hindustan hai, ghar mein ghusega bhi aur marega bhi” (This is the new India—it’ll enter your house and kill you as well),” which, while energizing, can at times feel like propaganda.
The political machinations are simplified for dramatic effect, and the terrorists are depicted as one-dimensional, snarling caricatures. But let’s be honest: Uri isn’t here to debate moral ambiguity or geopolitics. It is a cry of war and a tribute to the soldiers who return home to quiet graves and folded flags rather than ticker-tape parades. In addition, it delivers relentlessly on that front.
The film is grounded in authenticity thanks to the supporting cast—Raina, Kulhari, Rawal, and even Rajit Kapur as a stoic PM. Every character feels like a cog in a machine that’s bigger than any one person, a testament to the collective resolve of a nation pushed to its limits. The pacing is tight, clocking in at just over two hours, but it feels like a sprint—a breathless race against time to reclaim honor and deliver justice.
By the time the commandos extract and the screen fades to black, you’re left with a lump in your throat and a fire in your chest. Uri: The Surgical Strike is more than just a movie; it is a visceral experience that gets at something fundamental: the need to protect what is yours, to get revenge on those you have hurt, and to stand tall when the odds are against you. It’s messy, it’s loud, it’s unapologetic—and it’s damn near perfect for what it sets out to be. “How’s the josh?” High, sir. Sky-freaking-high.
People Review (Taken From google)
