Ghazi (film)

Ghazi The Ghazi Attack
Theatrical release poster of Telugu Version
Directed by	Sankalp Reddy
Written by	Azad Alam Gangaraju Gunnam
Screenplay by	Sankalp Reddy Gangaraju Gunnam Niranjan Reddy
Produced by	Anvesh Reddy Venkataramana Reddy Prasad V Potluri NM Pasha Jagan Mohan Vancha
Starring	Rana Daggubati Atul Kulkarni Kay Kay Menon Taapsee Pannu Rahul Singh Satyadev Kancharana
Production companies	PVP Cinema Matinee Entertainment
Distributed by	Dharma Productions AA Films (Hindi version)
Release date	17 February 2017 (2017-02-17)
Running time	123 minutes
Country	India
Languages	Telugu Hindi Tamil
Budget	₹15 crore[1]
Box office	est. ₹34.5 crore (Hindi version)[2]

Ghazi is a 2017 Indian war film written and directed by Sankalp Reddy. The film is simultaneously shot in Telugu and Hindi languages, the latter titled The Ghazi Attack. Based on the mysterious sinking of PNS Ghazi during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the film stars Rana Daggubati, Taapsee Pannu, Kay Kay Menon and Atul Kulkarni. The film which was released worldwide on 17 February 2017 in Telugu and Hindi along with dubbed version in Tamil, opened to positive reviews.^[3]

Ghazi is inspired by true events from the Indo-Pakistani War.^[4] The story is about an executive naval officer, a submarine of the Indian Navy, and his team, who remained underwater for 18 days.^[5][6] The film explores the mysterious circumstances under which submarine PNS Ghazi sank off the coast of Visakhapatnam in 1971.^[7]

The film's plot is based during the Indo-Pakistani Naval War of 1971. It is about the valour of the crew aboard the Indian submarine INS Karanj (S21), which destroyed the Pakistani PNS Ghazi when it ventured into Indian waters to destroy INS Vikrant on the shores of Visakhapatnam.^[8][9][10] At the 65th National Film Awards 2018, the film won the Best Feature Film in Telugu.^[11]

Plot[]

In November, 1971, India and Pakistan are on the verge of declaring war on each other, as a result of the refugee crisis precipitated by the Pakistan Army under Operation Searchlight. The Indian Navy and RAW decipher a secret code sent from Pakistan to East Pakistan (modern-day Bangladesh), relating to a possible attack on an Indian naval vessel. The Navy deduces that the target may be INS Vikrant, India's sole aircraft carrier. The top command dispatches the submarine S21, under the command of Captain Ranvijay Singh for recce missions. To temper Singh's belligerent tendencies, the Indian Navy Admiral assigns Lt. Cmdr Arjun Varma to S21, with orders to ensure that Singh does not confront any Pakistani warships and trigger a war.

The Navy's top command soon learns that the Pakistan Navy has dispatched PNS Ghazi, under Cmdr. Razak Khan, to the Bay of Bengal to confront Vikrant. Meanwhile, to divert the attention of the enemy, Ghazi torpedoes an Indian merchant ship. The attack is picked by S21, which races to the scene. Noticing survivors in the wreckage, Arjun jumps into the sea and manages to rescue a girl child and a woman, both of whom are Bengali refugees. During surveillance, S21 acquires a sonar signal of Ghazi.

Singh believes that they should track down Ghazi and attack, while Arjun obstructs, reiterating his instructions. Singh then orders the ship's EXO, Lt. Commander Santosh Devraj to conduct a drill and target Ghazi while doing so, despite Arjun's protests. They fire a torpedo, which misses Ghazi narrowly, thus alerting them of their presence. Aware of the enemy's presence, Razak orders his crew to head towards Visakhapatnam Port at full speed and to set up mines en-route, planning to destroy S21.

S21 pursues Ghazi's path and realizes at the last moment that it is headed into mines. Singh and Arjun frantically attempt to change its course but a mine explodes in the stern and damages most of the sub's batteries, propellers and circuits. The sub blows open many leaks, with the forward torpedo compartment flooded, crippling the sub and barring it from firing its forward torpedoes. Singh dies while trying to save Arjun, as S21 sinks to the sea-bed.

Arjun, now in command of the sub, regroups and work towards reviving S21. They manage to clog the sub's leaks and pumps the excess water out, before holding a final farewell for Singh. The crew noticed that the vessel is incapable of moving in any direction, except upwards or downwards. Since they are unable to chase Ghazi, the crew artificially trigger one of the naval mines in its vicinity to lure Ghazi to their position. Razak, believing S21 is still operational, orders his crew to turn around to sink S21. Arjun and Devraj plan to lure Ghazi within its range of firing, but a suspicious Razak orders Ghazi's course to be changed at the last minute.

Ghazi, now having the ability to attack S21, fires six torpedoes, all of which are avoided by S21 through depth changing maneuvers, much to Razak's frustration. S21 dives to 350 m, in order to slip from Ghazi's sonar range despite being designed for a maximum of 250 m depth. With very limited battery support, Arjun instigates Ghazi into attacking by transmitting his crew singing 'Saare Jahaan se Achchha' and the Indian National Anthem. Riled up by S21's defiance, Razak orders another torpedo attack on S21, for which Ghazi will have to turn by port 180 degrees. Arjun dives into the flooded forward compartment to manually trigger the torpedoes, successfully managing to do so. Ghazi also launches its torpedo at the same time. The torpedo launched by Ghazi misses S21 narrowly, but it is hit by S21's torpedo and disintegrates in the water, killing the entire crew. S21 surfaces and the crew manages to save Arjun from the flooded compartment in the nick of time. S21 is later saved by a patrolling Indian Navy vessel.

The ending titles narrate the mysterious circumstances about Ghazi's fate, with its sinking credited to the actions of INS Rajput. It also mentions that in the aftermath of Ghazi's sinking, India and Pakistan had declared war on each other, which would ultimately result in India's victory, Pakistan's surrender and the creation of Bangladesh.

Cast[]

Production[]

Development[]

PVP Cinema has produced the film.^[12][13] Karan Johar distributed the Hindi version.^[14] The music is composed by K.^[15] Visual Effects handled by Eva Motion Studios. The story is based on the mysterious sinking of PNS Ghazi during Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.^[16]

Casting and crew[]

The film stars Rana Daggubati^[17][18] and Taapsee Pannu^[19][20] in the lead along with Kay Kay Menon,^[21] Satyadev Kancharana,^[22] Atul Kulkarni, Ramanuj Dubey, Kunal Kaushik, Priyadarshi Pulikonda, Rahul Singh, Akshay Mittal, Malyaban Lahiri and Naren Yadav.^[23] Cinematography is done by Madhi, music composed by K ,Visual Effects Supervisor Vasudeva R Enugala and editing by Sreeker Prasad.^[24][25]

Filming[]

The film shooting started on 3 January 2016.^[26][27]

Actual events[]

Indian Navy claims to have sunk the PNS Ghazi on 3 December 1971 at the Vishakhapatnam harbour when then Captain Inder Singh of INS Rajput ordered the attack upon it. However the Pakistan Navy dispute the claim; as Pakistan naval inquiries believes the Ghazi might have sunk due to it mistakenly entering its own minefield and collided with one of the mines, which resulted in the violent underwater explosion.^[28]

Box office[]

The Ghazi Attack (Hindi) grossed ₹34.53 crore (US$4.6 million) overall, including ₹28 crore (US$3.7 million) in India and $975,000 overseas.^[2]

Critical reception[]

Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "While the visuals and special effects lack finesse, the film compensates for it with its riveting story. Despite the hitches, this underwater thriller is worth a watch."^[29] Shalini Langer of The Indian Express gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 5 saying that the film "could have been an engrossing crisis-at-sea drama but the film is so busy slaying Pakistanis that it loses sight of its core strengths."^[30] Prasanna D Zore of Rediff said that, "The Ghazi Attack is a riveting telling of a war story" and gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5.^[31] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 saying that, "The Ghazi Attack delivers many a riveting moment and is bolstered by the talent of a few capable actors. Its plot, however, is devoid of any mystery."^[32] Bollywood Hungama gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 saying that the movie "is a gripping war drama that leaves a stunning impact."^[33] Divya Pal of News18 criticized the screenplay and direction of the film and gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 5 saying that, "All in all, "The Ghazi Attack" is utterly disappointing."^[34] Authors at featured this film in their list of best Bollywood War Movies ever made and was positively accepted by their readers."^[35]

Awards and nominations[]

See also[]

• Raazi

References[]

External links[]

• Ghazi at IMDb
• Ghazi at Rotten Tomatoes