For 'Uri: The Surgical Strike', Kaushal won his first National Film Award for Best Actor.
"He (Vicky Kaushal) brings both the bulked-up physicality and the sort of steely determination that the part requires." wrote Rajeev Masand in his review of 'Uri: The Surgical Strike'
Before 'Uri: The Surgical Strike' happened, Vicky Kaushal was still a 'newcomer' in the industry with no solo commercial hit to his name. Although his merit was shone through right from his debut film, and his versatility was no secret, Kaushal wasn't deemed a bankable star for an ambitious mainstream film like 'Uri'. When director Aditya Dhar and producer Ronnie Screwvala decided to cast him as the lead, everyone called the casting a ‘mistake’, saying it would be nothing but a disaster.
Vicky Kaushal in a still from ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’
Well, the film hit theatres on January 11, 2019, and those who had been skeptical about Kaushal were all praise for him! He looked every bit the army man and brought the right amount of intensity to his performance that left all in awe. It took the entire nation by storm, and his dialogue "How Is The Josh?" became so iconic that we still can't get over it. The film emerged as a massive critical and commercial success and catapulted him to unprecedented fame.
(Credit: brut.india)
However, what's surprising is Kaushal was himself quite skeptical about starring in the film. Today, on the occasion of his 36th birthday, let's delve deep into the story.
Yes, you read it right! Upon reading the script of 'Uri: The Surgical Strike', Kaushal decided to reject the film as he couldn't connect with it. As he later shared in an interview, "... Not many people know this but Uri was something I almost was going to give a skip. I was shooting for Raazi when I got the script. I got very excited that this was the story that had come to me. After wrapping up a particular day of shoot, I went home and read the film. I was probably in a tired state of mind, but I took five hours to read the script and wasn’t able to connect with it. Something wasn’t clicking. I almost thought I’d take a few days and call them to tell that it’s not really working out.”
(Credit: RSVP Movies)
Vicky Kaushal's father, Sham Kaushal (a celebrated action director), happened to read the script and then convinced him to be a part of it. As the actor shared, "I came back home the next day post-shoot when dad (Sham Kaushal) happened to read the script. It was lying there and he read the title and got excited to know the story behind what had happened. He casually asked me if I’d read it. I told him what I felt and he said, ‘If you don’t do this film, it’ll be the biggest mistake of your life.’ Usually, our opinions would barely vary when it came to scripts. It was never this different. That’s when I thought that it was probably best for me to take some more time with it, finish my current schedule, take a break for a couple of days, and then revisit the script with a fresh state of mind. When I did that, I finished it in 2.5 hours and it felt like I was reading a completely new script. I remember calling Sonia Kanwar, the EP of the film, at 3 in the morning because I was so excited and so scared that the film would go to someone else. Luckily, she answered my call. That’s how it happened.”
(Credit: Zee Music Company)
Well, he finally did the film, and the rest, as they say, is history!