Film Review: The Ghazi Attack
Dir: Sankalp Reddy
Cast: Rana Daggubati, Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, Om Puri, Rahul Singh, Taapsee Pannu
Rating: **1/2
What's it about:
It's being touted as India's first underwater film. At the core, it's about how an Indian submarine S21 was tasked with taking out the PNS Ghazi to thwart an imminent attack on India’s aircraft carrier, the INS Vikrant, back in 1971.
It's also about how the trigger-happy Indian Captain Rannvijay Singh (Menon) of the submarine in question, is saddled with a Lt Commander named Arjun Verma (Daggubati) to ensure that he doesn’t blow the covert mission -- it’s not on the books -- and two Bangladeshi refugees (one of whom is Taapsee Pannu). The purpose of the mission is to keep a watch on the Pakistani sub and to attack, but only after receiving instructions, something Singh isn’t too pleased about. No waiting for this guy!
How the two officers keep the peace within the sub and without, is what this film is about.
What’s hot:
You can make out that the production/set design team has put in some amount of effort to get the dimensions of the submarine right. I’d like to hope that this can be counted as our U-571 or Crimson Tide. Equally interesting is the film’s cinematography (Madhie). Clever shot-taking has ensured that the claustrophobic feeling of being underwater in a ‘metallic beast of war’ isn’t lost on you.
Performances-wise, it’s Atul Kulkarni (who plays Devraj, Singh’s second-in-command), who makes it believable. Restrained is the word that comes to mind when you bring up Rana’s name. The Telugu star’s last biggie, Baahubali, saw him in an aggressive role. He looks the part.
Of course, this is no Crimson Tide and so, while this film has its moments, none come as close to that level of tension despite a decent screenplay that doesn’t really beat around the bush.
Director Sankalp shows a confident hand in his debut effort. He makes it apparent how much can be done with a little.
What’s not:
However, it would seem, as much effort is not gone into costuming or grooming, for that matter. Second-half wise, it gets much better. Also, performance-wise, Rahul Singh, as the Pakistani captain Razzaq, however, is something of a disappointment.
Kay Kay overdoes it in parts and while we get his jingoism, he seems to be a victim of his own hamming.
What to do?
Watch it once. More so, if you haven’t watched the likes of Hollywood films Crimson Tide or U-571. Watch this one for Rana and some great underwater action sequences.
