Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

Is Uri: The Surgical Strike a cursed film?

Is Uri: The Surgical Strike a cursed film?

WHEN Uri: The Surgical Strike was released in 2019 it became a huge blockbuster success. In terms of budget versus return, the fictional account of India’s retaliation to Pakistan militants launching a deadly attack in 2016, became one of the highest profit-making movies of all time.

Almost five years later, the award-winning hit seems to have cursed the three key people connected to it. The film’s writer-director Aditya Dhar started working on his high profile follow up The Immortal Ashwatthama, but the mythological superhero adventure headlined by Uri: The Surgical Strike lead star Vicky Kaushal soon collapsed.


Budgets spiralling out of control led to The Immortal Ashwatthama being shelved before it commenced shooting, which means that despite winning multiple awards for his directorial debut, Dhar is still waiting for a second film. It is now turning into one of the biggest gaps between an acclaimed debut and a follow up. This is one of many projects that have prevented Kaushal from progressing to leading man material.

His movies released as a leading man since then like Bhoot – Part One: The Haunted Ship, Govinda Naam Mera and The Great Indian Family have been major failures. His film Sardar Udham won awards but was largely overrated and dumped straight onto a streaming site.

Lead Sam Bahadur 907 Sam Bahadur

Perhaps, the most cursed has been the movie’s producer Ronnie Screwvala because he has been on a dramatic downward spiral. The clueless producer tried to replicate the anti-Pakistan rhetoric of Uri: The Surgical Strike, but that has backfired multiple times.

His decidedly average period war films Mission Majnu and Pippa dealt with India battling the old enemy, but both were dumped straight onto a streaming site because the appetite just wasn’t there for a cinema release. The average movies generated very little interest. There have been rumours that the recent release Pippa was sold at a huge financial loss to Amazon Prime.

Screwvala’s other anti-Pakistan film Tejas became a spectacular failure when it was released in October. When all the calculations are done, the Kangana Ranaut air force drama will be one of this year’s biggest film failures. After these three terrible cross-border war movies, the producer is hoping to turn things around with soon to be released film Sam Bahadur, which is due in cinemas on December 1. But that looks like more of the same – it is another cross border war movie and it has Kaushal portraying a real life Indian super soldier. The trailer received an average response, despite being directed by acclaimed filmmaker Meghna Gulzar.

Lead ronnie Screwvala Profile Ronnie Screwvala

If by some miracle the army movie does turn out to be good, it has shot itself in the foot by releasing on the same day as hotly anticipated blockbuster Animal.

It is an astonishingly bad decision considering Animal has a top drawer director and has a red-hot cast led up by massively popular Bollywood star Ranbir Kapoor. It is also a full-throttled action movie, which is the hottest genre in Hindi cinema right now after the big success of Pathaan and Jawaan.

If, as expected, Sam Bahadur fails at the box office, it will be four army movies in a row produced by Screwvala that have failed to replicate the success of Uri: The Surgical Strike, which still seems to be cursing key people associated with it.

More For You

The real challenge isn’t having more parties, but governing a divided nation

Zarah Sultana and Jeremy Corbyn

Getty Images

The real challenge isn’t having more parties, but governing a divided nation

It is a truth universally acknowledged that voters are dissatisfied with the political choices on offer - so must they be in want of new parties too? A proliferation of start-ups showed how tricky political match-making can be. Zarah Sultana took Jeremy Corbyn by surprise by announcing they will co-lead a new left party. Two of Nigel Farage’s exes announced separate political initiatives to challenge Reform from its right, with the leader of London’s Conservatives lending her voice to Rupert Lowe’s revival of the politics of repatriation.

Corbyn and Sultana are from different generations. He had been an MP for a decade by the time she was born. For Sultana’s allies, this intergenerational element is a core case for the joint leadership. But the communications clash suggests friction ahead. After his allies could not persuade Sultana to retract her announcement, Corbyn welcomed her decision to leave Labour, saying ‘negotiations continue’ over the structure and leadership of a new party. It will seek to link MPs elected as pro-Gaza independents with other strands of the left outside Labour.

Keep ReadingShow less
Amol Rajan confronts loss along the Ganges

Amol Rajan at Prayagraj

Amol Rajan confronts loss along the Ganges

ONE reason I watched the BBC documentary Amol Rajan Goes to the Ganges with particular interest was because I have been wondering what to do with the ashes of my uncle, who died in August last year. His funeral, like that of his wife, was half Christian and half Hindu, as he had wished. But he left no instructions about his ashes.

Sooner or later, this is a question that every Hindu family in the UK will have to face, since it has been more than half a century since the first generation of Indian immigrants began arriving in this country. Amol admits he found it difficult to cope with the loss of his father, who died aged 76 three years ago. His ashes were scattered in the Thames.

Keep ReadingShow less
One year on, Starmer still has no story — but plenty of regrets

Sir Keir Starmer

Getty Images

One year on, Starmer still has no story — but plenty of regrets

Do not expect any parties in Downing Street to celebrate the government’s first birthday on Friday (4). After a rocky year, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer had more than a few regrets when giving interviews about his first year in office.

He explained that he chose the wrong chief of staff. That his opening economic narrative was too gloomy. That choosing the winter fuel allowance as a symbol of fiscal responsibility backfired. Starmer ‘deeply regretted’ the speech he gave to launch his immigration white paper, from which only the phrase ‘island of strangers’ cut through. Can any previous political leader have been quite so self-critical of their own record in real time?

Keep ReadingShow less
starmer-bangladesh-migration
Sir Keir Starmer
Getty Images

Comment: Can Starmer turn Windrush promises into policy?

Anniversaries can catalyse action. The government appointed the first Windrush Commissioner last week, shortly before Windrush Day, this year marking the 77th anniversary of the ship’s arrival in Britain.

The Windrush generation came to Britain believing what the law said – that they were British subjects, with equal rights in the mother country. But they were to discover a different reality – not just in the 1950s, but in this century too. It is five years since Wendy Williams proposed this external oversight in her review of the lessons of the Windrush scandal. The delay has damaged confidence in the compensation scheme. Williams’ proposal had been for a broader Migrants Commissioner role, since the change needed in Home Office culture went beyond the treatment of the Windrush generation itself.

Keep ReadingShow less
Eye Spy: Top stories from the world of entertainment

Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh

Eye Spy: Top stories from the world of entertainment

Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh’s ‘Sapphire’ collaboration misses the mark

The song everyone is talking about this month is Sapphire – Ed Sheeran’s collaboration with Arijit Singh. But instead of a true duet, Arijit takes more of a backing role to the British pop superstar, which is a shame, considering he is the most followed artist on Spotify. The Indian superstar deserved a stronger presence on the otherwise catchy track. On the positive side, Sapphire may inspire more international artists to incorporate Indian elements into their music. But going forward, any major Indian names involved in global collaborations should insist on equal billing, rather than letting western stars ride on their popularity.

  Ed Sheeran and Arijit Singh

Keep ReadingShow less