Watch: Public review of Uri

Rajit Kapur plays the Prime Minister in Uri. Best remembered as truth-seeking sleuth Byomkesh Bakshi in the long-running television serial of the same name, the veteran actor finds a basic, bearded grace and stays understated as he chews thoughtfully on decisions about war and about the mothers of his soldiers. It is this man who signs off on everything, you see. In a movie about a successful military operation released in an election year, this celebration of credit cannot quite be considered coincidental.

Little, in fact, is left to chance in debutant director Aditya Dhar’s film, a slick war feature about a revenge mission that never appears to pose a challenge. There is a combat sequence around every corner — they may well have titled it Call Of Desi Duty — but the Indian Army are depicted as so valorous and well-prepared that the cartoonishly hook-nosed evil enemy never stands a chance.