Uri Owes Its Debt To Farhan Akhtar

Farhan Akhtar inadvertently proved a  source of inspiration for  Aditya Dhar’s Uri.

Recounting  the  sequence  of events Aditya says, “I was doing research  on  what makes Indian army soldiers  volunteer to be  part  of  the  Special Tasks Force. You must understand that the training for  the special tasks force involves  the kind  of hardships that take a soldier beyond  the breaking  point. So  I asked the soldiers what  makes  then  volunteer for  this . Some said, they did it because they come  froma family of armymen.  Others said they did it because their father thought they would  never be able to do anything in  life.”

One Special Task Force  volunteer  surprised  Aditya Dhar by saying he was inspired  by  a film. “That  young soldier—and I still remember his  face—said he was inspired by Farhan Akhtar’s film Lakshya.”

Aditya decided he would one day make  a war  film as inspiring as Lakshya.  “What  better  compliment than  to have  the yoing and  old  recite its dialogue ‘How’s  the josh?’. Their josh  gives me the josh  to  make movies which impact and  influence the audience in a positive way.I am glad Uri had  this  kind of an impact.”

The  young director  would love to show the  film to Farhan Akhtar.  “I  still remember  moments from Lakshya which were so brilliant. Farhan  has always been  a source  of  inspiration.His cinema talks the language  of  the  young. But never loses a sense of purpose.That’s my  kind of cinema.”