Actor Vicky Kaushal has said in an interview that he almost rejected Uri: The Surgical Strike because he couldn't connect with the script.
Actor Vicky Kaushal has said that he almost rejected Uri: The Surgical Strike—the film that cemented him as a bankable leading man—because he could not ‘connect’ with the script. But when his father, action director Sham Kaushal, chanced upon the script, he told Vicky that passing on it would be ‘the biggest mistake’ he’d ever make.
Uri, directed by Aditya Dhar, is a dramatic account of India’s retaliation for the 2016 Uri attacks. Vicky Kaushal played Major Vihaan Singh Shergill in the film, which made almost Rs 350 crore worldwide.
In an interview with Film Companion, Vicky Kaushal was asked if he instinctively picks projects to do, and he said that while that is normally the case, with Uri, it was different. “Most times, it has happened that way. Sometimes, it’s been like, ‘Let me just sleep on this.’ 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),” he said.
He continued, “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.”
The actor broke out with a lead role in Masaan, and followed it up with more populist films such as Raazi and Sanju. Vicky was last seen in Shoojit Sircar’s period drama Sardar Udham, based on the life of freedom fighter Udham Singh. He has also signed on to play late Chief of the Army Staff Sam Maneckshaw in an upcoming biopic that will reunite him with his Raazi director Meghna Gulzar.
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