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Daily Recco, January 15: Army Day josh with Uri

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Rajeshwari Ganesan
Rajeshwari GanesanJan 15, 2021 | 15:15

Daily Recco, January 15: Army Day josh with Uri

Make sure your josh is high on Army Day today. We recommend you watch Uri: The Surgical Strike.

The country celebrates the 73rd Army Day today and our thoughts are with the soldiers with gratitude. Bollywood has no dearth of movies that venerate the soldiers who set the greatest example of selfless service and love for the country and countrymen. However, in recent times, one of the best movies that pay a fitting tribute to the Indian Army has been Uri: The Surgical Strike (2019).

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The movie is based on the Indian Army’s retaliatory surgical strikes to the terrorist attack in Uri in 2016. The war drama is seen through the eyes of the protagonist — Major Vihaan Singh Shergill (essayed by Vicky Kaushal). The plot develops in stages that lead to the final surgical strike. Debutant director Aditya Dhar keeps the narrative realistic without it being a chest-thumping account. Vicky Kaushal as Major Shergill is as real a solider as it gets. His famous dialogue, "How's the josh?" took on a life of its own after the film was released. Not only did it spawn a tidal wave of memes, but has also been used by the PM on more than one occasion. 

Back to Kaushal's performance as Major Shergill, his portrayal of the character's personal infirmities as he battles for the country, makes him more of relatable rather than a distant venerable character. And here is where the actor scores an extra brownie point. The character’s nationalistic pride, dealing with inner demons (without coming across as a brooder) and his love for the country do not come across as a hyper-jingoistic account that it could have easily become. His co-stars — Yami Gautam, Mohit Raina, Paresh Rawal and Kirti Kulhari — also play their roles effectively.

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Due credit to Stefan Richter’s action scenes and Mitesh Mirchandani’s cinematography for keeping the war scenes as real as possible without letting them get gory.

A rather mature presentation of patriotism, Uri won in four categories at the National Film Awards, besides a host of other awards and honours. Today, as we honour our soldiers, watch Uri: The Surgical Strike on Zee5. Believe us, you will also root for it, all guns blazing. So, how's the josh?

Last updated: January 15, 2021 | 15:15
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