Aditya Dhar: Making a film for the Indian Army is the least we can do for them

Filmmaker Aditya Dhar ,director of the upcoming film ‘URI: The Surgical Strike’, which is based on the Indian Army’s surgical strikes against Pakistan, feels that stories of the country’s soldiers deserve to be told on the big screen. Talking about how he ended up making a film on India’s secret military operation from 2016, he says, “I was doing a film with Karan Johar called ‘Raat Baki’, which had Fawad Khan and Katrina Kaif as the leads.The moment we were supposed to go on floors, the Uri attacks happened and Pakistani actors were then, not allowed to work in Hindi films. Since Fawad couldn’t come back to India, the film went into a limbo. Soon after, my attention was drawn towards the surgical strikes by the Indian Army. I am a Kashmiri pandit and I have been hearing about terrorism since childhood. We have been directly and indirectly affected by it, too. I always had interest in the military as I wanted to join the army. When I started researching, I realised that it’s one of the most incredible, covert and well-planned military operations to have been carried out in India. The Indian Army does so much for our country and making a film for them is the least we can do as filmmakers. They deserve love and respect from each and every citizen of India, for the sacrifices they make for us.”
Ask him if there was enough material for him to base his screenplay and how he managed to put the story together and he adds, “There was lot of reference material already available in the public domain, but I had to do a lot of research, too. I spoke to several retired army personnel and we were able to construct the story based on all that. Once the first draft was ready we shared it with the PR wing of the Indian Army and they gave us valuable feedback and their point of view. Within four months of the surgical strike, I was ready with the script of the film.”
‘URI: The Surgical Strike’ features Vicky Kaushal as the lead and talking about the actor’s dedication filmmaker Aditya says, “Being a first-time director, I wasn’t sure if an established actor would be keen on working with me and I also needed an actor who could completely dedicate himself to the film. He had to train for five to six months. There was military training, the actor had to gain weight for the role and also look like an army Major, who could supervise a team of 80 people. Vicky at that time was shooting for Raazi and Sanju hadn’t released, either. I was keen on casting him, because he has incredible potential. He is hungry to prove himself and the way he has pushed himself during the preparation for this role has been incredible.”