‘Uri’ Movie Review: A loaded machine gun that manages to hit all its targets

Directed by: Aditya Dhar

Produced by: Ronnie Screwvala

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Kirti Kulhari, Yami Gautam

Duration: 2 hour 7 minutes

Rating: 3.5/5

War movies aren’t easy to make. Just ask J.P. Dutta whose ‘Paltan’ (released last year) was a sorry snoozefest that was so bad, it made you want to blow up your own head with a grenade. ‘Uri’ is nowhere near as bad. It makes your blood boil, you achieve catharsis with every small battle that the Indian army wins and you get goosebumps every time Vicky Kaushal screams, “How’s the josh?”

That said, the film does not fall into the ‘must watch’ category for a few reasons. The sentimental scenes aren’t that great and there’s one scene where a martyr’s wife refuses to wash her husband’s clothes (for memory). It’s executed badly and makes you cringe. Except for the fact that Major Vihaan (Vicky Kaushal) is a brave officer, there isn’t much else noteworthy about his character. His chest-thumping patriotism is great (though nowhere close to Sunny Deol’s immortal monologue in ‘Gadar’) and doesn’t come across as forced.

As for the other characters, Paresh Rawal’s performance is surprisingly shaky and underwhelming. It seems like he is trying too hard, and I can’t remember the last time I have seen him do that. Kirti Kulhari and Yami Gautam don’t have much to do, but they come across as sincere and genuine. Aditya Dhar’s direction is spot on when it comes to action scenes, but he resorts to ineffective melodrama when it comes to emotional scenes. For a first time director who is making a war film, that is not a bad prognosis. For some strange reason, I saw a lot of similarity between him and Neeraj Pandey’s style of filmmaking.

Final verdict:

The two things that are great about this film though are 1) the action scenes and 2) the background score. On the basis of that, this film may manage to rake in good money at the box office. The storytelling style is extremely commercial and if you’re expecting an artistic war film (just because it has Vicky), you’ll be disappointed. If you’re expecting an entertaining (and cathartic) action film with plenty of blood, guns and bullets, you should definitely watch it.

Watch trailer: