The Ghazi Attack: A befitting salute to The Indian Navy

War movies are very few in Bollywood, and there are very few directors like J. P. Dutta in 90’s or Chetan Anand in 60’s who take the pain to explore the subject. War movie genre that is inspired by real life incident was last seen in “LOC” in 2003.

“The Ghazi Attack” dares to explore the genre, but this time it is the Indian Navy which is explored which I think is for the first time in Bollywood that a movie on Indian Navy has been made, so apt tag line “First Under water War Movie”…

“The Ghazi Attack” is inspired by a classified mission of the Indian Navy in 1971, which resulted in destroying the submarine from Pakistan named Ghazi.

Written by Sankalp Reddy, Niranjan Reddy & Gunnam Gangraju, “The Ghazi Attack” has been written in a thriller format which keeps you engaged throughout the run time of 2 hours and 5 minutes. The script is full of twists and turns, though we all know the end but hats off to the writing team who keep the surprise element intact. A proper study has gone behind writing of the script which comes out quite obvious as most part of the movie the procedures, the discipline and code of conduct of the Navy is correctly portrayed. Each character has its significance in the script and no time is wasted on unnecessary sequences which are irrelevant to the subject. Though at the end there is a bit of chest thumping patriotism which as per my opinion was not required in such a realistic theme. The dialogues written by Azad Alam is apt and to the point which consolidates the crisp narration. The writing creates the required patriotism without going overboard on emotion and melodrama.

Other than the writing the ensemble cast adds up to the movie watching experience. Rana Daggubati as Lt Commander Arjun Varma looks and acts like a naval officer, his looks blends with the character and he acts well. The crackling performance comes from Kay Kay Menon who portrays Captain Ranvijay Singh, a straight forward and extremely ruthless captain. Kay Kay Menon lives the character throughout the narration and never goes overboard which was risk for such a character, but he fares with flying colours as Captain Ranvijay Singh. Another performance which creates an impact is of Atul Kulkarni who plays Executive officer Devraj, his underplayed portrayal wins the hearts of the audience, this is the second winner for Atul after a brilliant performance in “Raees”. You would end up remembering both Kay Kay Menon and Atul Kulkarni after the movie gets over. Taapsee Pannu as a Bangladeshi refugee has a miniscule role and her presence does not make any difference to the narration. Rahul Singh as the Pakistani commander Razaq Khan, brings the required cunningness and shrewdness in the character and never goes overboard with his menacing act. Rest of the cast Om Puri, Nassar, Milind Gunaji , Bikramjeet Kanwarpal and many other actors who play soldiers do a brilliant job making the movie a delight to watch.

Debutant director Sankalp Reddy hits the bull’s eye with his first movie. He keeps the narration as realistic as possible with a thriller edge which keeps you glued till the end. Such movies have the risk of looking like a documentary, but Sankalp makes the movie as entertaining as possible. He has extracted some brilliant performances from the ensemble cast. Welcome Sankalp Reddy to Bollywood, we look forward for more such riveting cinema.

Amongst the technical side there are Five things that stand apart, one the production design by Shivam Rao, who has successfully created the set of the submarine so well that you feel that you are inside a real submarine and not a make believe. Second is the editing by A. Sreekar Prasad, which is so razor sharp that you never have a dull moment throughout the movie. Third is the VFX, which is the biggest star of the movie, it is not completely at par with Hollywood but still it does not disappoint, and makes your experience memorable. Fourth being the costume design by Ashwanth Byri, he gets the men in uniform bang on without any frills. And last not the least is the cinematography by Madhie, which adapts to the mood and the narration of the movie well.

“The Ghazi Attack” is a salute to the Indian Navy and a must watch for every Indian, I will go with Four Stars…

Movie Rating: (4 / 5)