Vicky Kaushal says he almost turned down Uri, was busy filming Raazi

Bollywood actor Vicky Kaushal has claimed that he had almost said no to Uri-The Surgical Strike, the movie that turned his career around and one of the biggest hits of the year. Kaushal earned his maiden National Award with this film. He has claimed at that time, he was filming for Raazi. Directed by Aditya Dhar, the film was based on the Indian Army's surgical strikes across the LoC.

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Uri's success had won Vicky Kaushal a National Award 

Uri featured Vicky as a commander, who leads a group of paratroopers in the surgical strikes following terror attacks on the Indian Army camp in Uri in Kashmir.

He proclaimed that since he was busy shooting for Raazi, the actor had almost turned down the role. However, he received a call from Ronnie Screwvala's team, for whom Kaushal was the first choice and that had they planned to make the film immediately.

Vicky was in conversation with film critic Rajeev Masand on Friday at the 10th Jagran Film Festival. The actor reportedly said he read the script as a book, but since he was tired or was 'thinking in a separate space', he could not connect with it.

"There was so much technical information involved, the Army, the language. For 14 hours that day I was playing a Pakistani major and then suddenly this was India versus Pakistan and I have to be on Indian side. There was something I couldn't connect to," he reportedly said.

Vicky went back to shoot Raazi the next day, with the script still lying in his house. It was his father, action director Sham Kaushal, who read the script and asked the actor what he thought of it. 

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Zoned out of Uri script: Kaushal

"I said I couldn't enter the zone. It took me a long time as usually, I finish a script in two hours but I took four-and-a-half hours for this one. He told me, 'If you miss doing this film, it'll be the stupidest decision of your life'," he added. Vicky then decided to finish his "Raazi" schedule and then come back to the script properly. 

"Then I finished it in one-and-a-half hours and felt I was reading it for the first time. I called RSVP and said I want to do this, please don't go to any other actor I will do anything for the film," he said. 

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On the work front

Vicky Kaushal is currently working on his new movie Bhoot Part One- The Haunted Ship, directed by Any Body Can Dance director Bhanu Pratap Singh. Karan Johar's Dharma Productions will produce the movie. According to sources, the film was initially set to hit the screens on November 15 this year. But now the release dates have been postponed to February 21, 2020. Bhumi Pednekar to play his counterpart. 

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