REVIEW

Directed by Sankalp Reddy, the film is inspired by a true incident, the mysterious sinking of Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi. The plot revolves around an executive naval officer and his crew who remained underwater for 18 days. Baahubali star Daggubati plays the navy officer, while Taapsee essays the role of a refugee in the film.

STORY

India’s first underwater war film tries to decode the mystery behind the sinking of Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi during the Indo-Pak war of 1971. ​

Led by the rebellious Capt Ranvijay Singh (Kay Kay Menon), his second-in-command Devaraj (Atul Kulkarni) and righteous officer Arjun (Rana Daggubati), S-21 is assigned a classified search mission after sources tip-off the Indian Navy of a Pakistani vessel infiltrating the Indian waters. Ghazi intends to target INS Vikrant (India’s aircraft carrier) in order to reach East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by sea. What transpires between these two submarines once they get a whiff of each other forms the story.

PERFORMANCE

The film, a little over two hours long, has an exceptionally tight screenplay that does not stop for a minute to breathe. It is single-mindedly focused on the cat-and-mouse game between the players inside both the submarines, S-21 and Ghazi, which try to constantly locate and outsmart each other.

The action set-ups are brilliant. The unobtrusive background score is a loyal second-in-command. Above all, the Ghazi Attack's script-structure is beautiful. The first-half concentrates on the conflict between a hot-headed, trigger-happy but sincere Captain and a calm and composed 'Company Man' Lt Commander who has been specifically ordered to keep the Captain in check. The post-interval part witnesses a change in heart and methodology of the Lt.Commander after a tragedy and now the conflict shifts from personal to physical, from intimate to external, between S-21 and Ghazi itself.

As for the performances, Kay Kay Menon has done a fantabulous job and even Rana Daggubati and Atul Kulkarni are excellent in the film. These three are the backbone of the film. Om Puri and Taapsee Pannu are good in their small roles.Rahul Singh plays Razzak, the villainous Pakistani captain of Ghazi, and he does a cartoon-ish Prakash Raj, sadly.

Cinematography by Madhi is good. The entire film has been shot on croma, which is commendable. For a film predominantly set underwater, it looks very real except for 2-3 odd scenes.

PLUS

Screenplay

Lead Actors Performance

Cinemetography

MINUS

First Half is Very Slow

Verdict : Engaging Movie!

Stars : 3/5