“When a wolf is trying to get in, you gotta stand in the doorway” – BB King
The trailer of the upcoming movie ‘Uri’ starring Vicky Kaushal and Paresh Rawal released on the 5th of December 2018. The movie is based on the 2016 surgical strike that was carried out by the Indian Army in response to the gruesome attack by Pakistan where 19 soldiers were martyred, in the wee hours of the morning.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg8sbRFS3zU]
I vividly remember the moments when we found out about Pakistan’s brazen, blood-soaked attack at the Uri base camp. It was reported that the men, our men, were unarmed. Sleeping or just about waking up on that fateful morning, while the rest of us lay in bed, safe and sound. Even as the details trickled in, my first instinct was to lash out at the government and ask them, what it is that they were doing to extract India’s pound of flesh.
In the hours after the dust settled, I spoke to several people in my horror and spoke at length, in shock, that India had not responded. The reactions I got were varied. Some said “these things take time”, while others simply shrugged and said, “when have we ever responded to our men being slaughtered by a terrorist nation”.
In those hours, oscillating between hope, that the government I voted for largely based on their internal and external security stand would act, eventually, and fear about whether I had overestimated the Prime Minister’s resolve, I was distraught. In hours of such threat, one tends to attempt and put oneself in that situation and imagine how they would react. For mothers, I think the first thought is to ask ourselves; what if it was me? My family? My house that was attacked by barbarians? What if it was my husband out there? What if it was my family that had been hurt.. or worse? The thought would fill me up with rage and all I would hope for, was the Prime Minister and his trusted confidantes would share the same emotion.
The fear, that several people tried hard to suppress perhaps stemmed from the fact that it happened in an army base. If the protectors aren’t safe, and if, when the protectors are attacked we sit with our hands tied, what would eventually become of people who these men protect? People like us? If Pakistan was able to break the barrier and murder the very people who keep me safe, how far are they from bleeding me? My family?
And then, on 29th September 2016, we extracted our pound of flesh. We bled the ones who killed our men. The army sent a message – if the wolves are trying to get it, we are standing in the doorway to hunt the wolves down so they never hurt the family again.
The ‘Uri’ trailer captures that emotion and how. Movies are a powerful medium to capture contemporary history and it rather unfortunate that movies, to date, have captured the intended Left narrative more than the truth on the ground. ‘Uri’ trailer shows the rage the fallen soldiers’ comrades must have felt and the third to avenge their brothers’ murder. It shows the deep love and sense of duty our men have, that enable them to put their lives on the line.
Above all, it shows us that the India we live in today has changed. Not the army. The army has always been a duty-bound force of protectors who would do what is necessary. But the political will to stand toe to toe and say “We are” has changed. We remember the revelations that the Indian Airforce was ready to avenge the brutal 26/11 terrorist attack but the then Congress government blocked the move. The ‘Uri’ movie communicates to the young Indian who might not truly be interested in following the news, that a force who will willing to die protecting us and our home, is a thing to proud of.
India’s surgical strike and the sentiment that ‘Uri’ captures tells the country – when the wolf is trying to get in, you don’t stop cold and try to reason with the beast. You put it down if you want to keep your home safe.
While the left might take pride in single-quoting ‘unarmed men were killed’, ‘Jai Hind’, ‘Naya Hindustan’, obfuscate shamelessly by calling Pakistan’s attack in Uri as ‘alleged’, and term taking pride in our men’s commitment to protect as ‘hyper-nationalism’, the movie looks promising, if for nothing else, then just to relive the moments when the DGMO called a press conference and told the world that we will not go quietly into the night.
As Welsh poet Dylan Thomas once eloquently wrote:
Do not go gentle into that good night. Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. … Do not go gentle into that good night.
