General Ved Prakash Malik who served as the 19th Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army from 30 September 1997 to 30 September 2000 — he was the Army Chief during the Kargil War — made a remark on the Bollywood war drama Uri: The Surgical Strike.
Commenting the Vicky Kaushal-starrer, fictionalised account of the retaliation to the 2016 Uri attack, General Malik wrote on Twitter:
Watched URI movie today. Slick movie based on a known military mission. Some non military roles exaggerated. Nevertheless highly motivational. Was happy to see hall full of young children.
— Ved Malik (@Vedmalik1) January 14, 2019
“Some non-military roles exaggerated” may be a comment on either National Security Advisor Ajit Doval or Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose characters were portrayed in the film by Paresh Rawal and Rajit Kapur, respectively.
In December 2018, Lt General (retired) DS Hooda, who was the Northern Army Commander during the surgical strikes, had said that there were accusations that the surgical strikes issue was politicised and that there was an “attempt to keep a purely military operation in the political domain by selective leaks of videos, photographs etc.”
“Did the overhype help? I say, completely no. If you start having political resonance in military operations, it is not good. There was too much political banter, on both sides, and when military operations get politicised, that is not good,” he said while moderating a discussion on the ‘Role of Cross-Border Operations and Surgical Strikes’ at the ongoing Military Literature Festival in Chandigarh.
When asked about the possibility of the strikes impacting the thought process of decision-makers in future operations, Hooda noted that “if you hype a successful operation, then even success has its burden.”
Also read: 80% Claims Made in ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ Are False: Former NSA M K Narayanan