Aditya Dhar: Many people had dissuaded Ronnie from making URI

Months after its release, and long before it won popular awards, debutant director Aditya Dhar’s URI: The Surgical Strike had picked up not one or two but four National Awards. The war drama won in two technical categories, apart from direction and acting (Dhar and Vicky Kaushal who played the central character). While Aditya had previously mentioned that the film had faced hurdles while it was under production, when we met him recently, he told us a lot more.
The filmmaker, who has officially started work on Ashwathama, a superhero film with Vicky in the lead, said, “Today, I feel proud that Ronnie Screwvala backed the film with the confidence that no one else had ever shown in it. Many people had tried to dissuade Ronnie from making this film. Apparently, war dramas had become a redundant genre. Border was the last of the films that worked well in this space. I’ve been around for a long time to know that the confidence Ronnie had in all of us is rare. People go after big casts, projects and the commercials. He went with what the script had to offer and stayed true to it. That stems from the fact that almost all his films have breakout content. In the last 20 years, he’s only run risks and made new rules. He made films that no one would have ever dared to touch.”
On January 11, the film’s team had a mini celebration of its first anniversary of release. Recalling the team’s effort, Aditya said, “The actors went through months of acting workshops, physical training and so much more. Prior to that, I had never heard of Vicky saying things like, ‘I am tired’ and ‘You are pushing it yaar’. Eventually, he pushed himself and made the film special. Everyone gave their hundred percent. A year down, it feels as if it was all worth it.”