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I saw this movie to a house full crowd and yes, the Josh was high indeed! I also saw another significant message being sent out and the audience loving it.
Uri: The Surgical Strike is not just a movie about India’s patriotism, but it has another hidden message for us.
Did you happen to see and recognize the underlying pattern of a new wave that is engulfing India?
If you saw the movie carefully, and were engrossed in the army strategies, attack, and decimating the enemy, you could not have missed out on the strongest support from various walks of life this aspect of India gave Vihan as he and his team decimated the enemy.
Did you figure it out?
It was the strong, standout women characters!
I have written about the occasional movie I really liked. Piku and Bang Bang were among them. Another was the animated marvel Zootopia! Now Uri has made me want to write about it.
Not just one, all of them, right from Riva to Asma, all of them were tough, passionate, hardworking and dedicated to their work.
Yes, even I was dazzled by the beauty of Yami Gautam as Pallavi Sharma / Jasmine but she also did a fabulous job as the woman intelligence officer who was strong, silent, confident, and ‘a damn good intelligence officer’. Not a flinch, ever even when she messed up! I can assure you if a real officer comes in front of any one of us, we too wouldn’t recognise him or her.
Neha played by Manasi Parekh Gohil as the wife/sister who lost her husband yet was strong for her loved ones. Her hurt, sorrow and pain did not stop her from being a support to the family and sending another member to fight the terror that claimed her husband. Yes, such is the creed of an army wife, she is unflinching in her dedication to the nation.
Not just as a strong army wife who stands by her man, a woman can also be the one who herself will join the cause. As the resilient air force pilot lady officer, Seerat Kaur played by Kirti Kulkarni amply proves in the movie. Waiting to avenge her loved one, herself, and not flinching from any enemy. Defying the odds to save the strike team, strategising with Vihan to ensure their safe return from the enemy.
Rukhsar Rehman as Asma, even if for a blink and you miss it role, I found her to be most superlative in her acting and action. Her support for the Indian cause and her acting clearly triumphed with the quality over quantity factor. It could have been a man or her husband doing the hard work but she was just outstanding in her role. A woman who excelled in all areas, as a wife, lady and a spy. Those slaps I tell you! I could see that clip on a loop! If someone has a GIF for it, please share with me, I will add it to this post.
I think women were the backbone of this movie because not only they essayed their roles perfectly they also managed to show that the roles were written for them. Never once did I feel the need of a man to do any of the roles. And these were good adrenaline pumping challenging characters.
Finally, Riva Arora as Suhani Kashyap, the little girl whose tears and the war cry tore our hearts and we all know it was not an imaginary scene but a case of art imitating life. I am sure that her sweet innocence mingled with tears left no dry eye in the hall. As it should not, so the nation remembers that real lives are lost and families broken when terror strikes.
The movie spoke of a New India and I think the movie set an example of how liberated, unorthodox, and balanced India can be. India has always reinvented itself in spite of all the challenges, oppression and radical forces it has faced.
We women are at the helm of this change now, women finding their spot under the sun, women showing the way, making the change and leading, stepping up the josh! India where a woman can be whoever she wants to be and strong men count on a tough woman’s support to get them out went the bullets are flying and hell is let loose.
I hope that Riva’s words come true and I get to see a woman general lead our forces!
How’s the Josh? High indeed! Jai Hind!
A version of this was first published here.
Header image: stills from the movie Uri: A Surgical Strike
Inderpreet writes for her love of writing, edits manuscripts and reads endlessly. An authors' editor with a decade of experience, she provides manuscript critique, linguistic editing, substantive editing and developmental editing for fiction and nonfiction. read more...
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