Uri: The Surgical Strike · reception & legacy
2019 · Aditya Dhar
How Uri: The Surgical Strike has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
A sleeper-hit phenomenon in January 2019 that turned into one of Bollywood's biggest earners of the year; today it's just as often discussed as the film that kicked off the wave of hyper-nationalist Hindi cinema that followed it.
What's debated
The forever-debate: slick, genuinely well-made military thriller or election-season jingoism — and whether you can admire the craft while side-eyeing the politics.
Its footprint
"How's the josh?" escaped the film entirely — chanted at rallies, quoted by Prime Minister Modi, plastered across ads and memes; it's one of the most quoted Hindi-film lines of its decade.
Where it stands
Less a cinephile darling than a cultural landmark — the reference point every conversation about Bollywood's nationalist turn starts from, and the film that made Vicky Kaushal a star.