The Indian Navy decodes a secret code sent from Pakistan to then-East Pakistan and intelligence report of a Pakistan Navy's submarine called PNS Ghazi, a much more advanced submarine than S21 or any other Indian submarine, being sent through the Bay of Bengal under the command of Cdr. Razak Khan. The top command dispatches S21, a submarine, under the command of Capt. Ranvijay Singh for surveillance. To temper Singh's belligerent tendencies, the Indian Navy Admiral assigns Lt. Commander Arjun Varma, with orders to ensure that Singh does not confront any Pakistani warships and trigger a war. Ghazi blasts a merchant ship to divert attention of the Indian Navy, that has been sent to sink the sole Indian air-craft carrier, INS Vikrant. Arjun saves a girl child and a woman, who are Bangladeshi refugees. During surveillance, S21 acquires a sonar signal of Ghazi. Singh believes that they should track down Ghazi and attack, while Arjun obstructs. Singh then orders the ship's EXO, Lt. Commander Santosh Devraj to conduct a drill and target Ghazi while doing so. They miss their target narrowly and in the process alert Ghazi of their presence. Razak, orders his crew to head towards Visakhapatnam Port at full speed and to set up mines en-route so that S21 is destroyed in their pursuit. S21 pursues Ghazi's path and realizes at the last moment that it is headed into mines. It tries to change its course but a mine explodes and damages most of the batteries, propellers and circuits and the compartment with the front torpedoes gets flooded. Singh dies while trying to save Arjun as S21 sinks to the sea-bed. Meanwhile, Arjun, who by now is in charge of the mission, regroups and work towards reviving S21. The crew notices that the ship is incapable of moving in any direction, except up or down. Since they cannot chase Ghazi, the crew artificially triggers one of the naval mines in its vicinity to make Ghazi return. Razak, sensing that Ghazi could be walking into a trap, diverts the ship's path and starts attacking S21. Six torpedoes fired by Ghazi are avoided by S21 through depth changing maneuvers. S21 dives to 350 m so that it is no longer within Ghazi's sonar range despite being designed for a maximum of 250 m depth. With very limited battery support, Arjun instigates Ghazi into attacking by transmitting his crew singing 'Saare Jahaan se Achchha' and the Indian National Anthem. Riled up by S21's defiance, Razak orders another torpedo attack on S21, for which Ghazi will have to turn by port 180 degrees. Arjun, dives into the flooded compartment to manually trigger the torpedoes and successfully triggers a torpedo. Ghazi also launches its torpedo at the same time. The Ghazi torpedo misses S21 narrowly, but it is hit by an S21 torpedo and disintegrates in water. Arjun is later saved alive from the flooded compartment.
Cast
Rana Daggubati as Lieutenant Commander Arjun Varma
has produced the film. Karan Johar distributed the Hindi version. The music is composed by K. Visual Effects handled by Eva Motion Studios.
Casting and crew
The film stars Rana Daggubati and Taapsee Pannu in the lead along with Kay Kay Menon, Satyadev Kancharana, Atul Kulkarni, Ramanuj Dubey, Kunal Kaushik, Priyadarshi Pulikonda, Rahul Singh, Akshay Mittal, Malyaban Lahiri and Naren Yadav. Cinematography is done by Madhi, music composed by K,Visual Effects Supervisor Vasudeva R Enugala and editing by Sreeker Prasad.
claims to have sunk the PNS Ghazi on December 4, 1971 at the Vishakhapatnam harbour when then Captain Inder Singh of INS Rajput ordered the attack upon it. However the Pakistan Navy dispute the claim; as Pakistan naval inquiries believes the Ghazi might have sunk due to it mistakenly entering its own minefield and collided with one of the mines, which resulted in the violent underwater explosion.
Box office
The Ghazi Attack grossed overall, including in India and $975,000 overseas.
Critical reception
Renuka Vyavahare of The Times of India gave the film a rating of 3 out of 5 and said that, "While the visuals and special effects lack finesse, the film compensates for it with its riveting story. Despite the hitches, this underwater thriller is worth a watch." Shalini Langer of The Indian Express gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 5 saying that the film "could have been an engrossing crisis-at-sea drama but the film is so busy slaying Pakistanis that it loses sight of its core strengths." Prasanna D Zore of Rediff said that, "The Ghazi Attack is a riveting telling of a war story" and gave the film a rating of 4 out of 5. Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 saying that, "The Ghazi Attack delivers many a riveting moment and is bolstered by the talent of a few capable actors. Its plot however, is devoid of any mystery." Bollywood Hungama gave the film a rating of 3.5 out of 5 saying that the movie "is a gripping war drama that leaves a stunning impact." Divya Pal of News18 criticized the screenplay and direction of the film and gave the film a rating of 1.5 out of 5 saying that, "All in all, "The Ghazi Attack" is utterly disappointing." Authors at The Reading Hook featured this film in their list of best Bollywood War Movies ever made and was positively accepted by their readers."
