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The Ghazi Attack: All you need to know about the unsung tale of bravado during 1971 War

Rana Daggubati-starrer The Ghazi Attack has finally hit the theatres. Here's all you need to know about the 1971 war-at-sea flick

The much-hyped naval war film The Ghazi Attack has finally hit the theatres today. The Rana Daggubati-starrer had created a lot of hype since its release. Here we give you a sneak peek of this bilingual film based on the sinking of Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi off the Indian coast.

Cast

The film is directed by Sankalp and distributed by Dharma Productions. It has an ensemble cast comprising Rana Daggubati, Taapsee Pannu, Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni, late Om Puri and others. As mentioned earlier, it is a bilingual film (Hindi and Telugu). The Hindi version of the film has the narration by Amitabh Bachchan whereas Chiranjeevi has lent his voice to the Telugu version.

As far as the characterisation is concerned, Kay Kay Menon plays a hot-headed Captain Rannvijay Singh, who is an in-charge of Indian submarine S-21. Rana Daggubati plays Lt Commander Arjun Varma.

Plot

The film is partially based on the book Blue Fishes authored by Sankalp himself. It chronicles the sinking of Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi which had embarked on a mission to not only destroy Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier INS Vikrant but also capture the Visakhapatnam coast and gain an upper hand in the war. However, the Pakistani submarine encounters its Indian counterpart S-21, which is led by Captain Rannvijay Singh (Menon). What follows next is the 18-day-long underwater struggle by the captain and his team to thwart the Pakistani threat.

Trivia

The film was shot underwater in a real submarine set. Can you believe it? It is the first war-at-sea film and the actors had to spend days without being exposed to the sunlight and breathing recycled air. In an interview to IANS, Rana Daggubati had said that it was nothing less than the freedom to be on land after spending months underwater.

Meanwhile, Daggubati also purchased a Bajaj V15 motorcycle which was built from the scrap material of INS Vikrant. We know the iconic 1971 warship has a strong connection with the film.

Controversies

The sinking of PNS Ghazi has been contested by both the Pakistani and Indian authorities. While the Pakistanis say that it sank due to an accident, the Indian narrative claims a fierce war ensued the submarine to drown.

Box Office prospects

Talking about box office prospects, the film is expected to net between Rs 6-10 crore in the opening weekend. It will face competition from Arshad Warsi-starrer Irada and Amit Sadh-starrer Runningshaadi.com.

Also read: The Ghazi Attack: Here’s why Rana Daggubati and Kay Kay Menon film is one of its kind