Big screen battles

Book review of Bollywood Does Battle: The War Movie and the Indian Popular Imagination

Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his speech at the inauguration of the National Museum of Indian Cinema in Mumbai in January 2019 by quoting the blockbuster Uri: The Surgical Strike. Addressing filmmakers, actors and producers, he said: “How’s the josh?” — a popular dialogue from the film. On cue, the audience replied: “High, sir!” The film depicted the Indian army’s “surgical strike” on terrorist camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in 2016, in response to a terror attack on an army post in the town of Uri. The film was the biggest box office success of 2019.

The success of Uri and other