Debutant director Sankalp Reddy’s film Ghazi Attack is all set to bring to the big screen one of the biggest mysteries of the India-Pakistan war history confined to the depths of the Bay of Bengal, until now. Said to be India’s first submarine-based war film, it has been the talk of the nation from the time its first teaser was launched. Four years ago when Sankalp thought of making Ghazi , he had never imagined that it would turn into such a huge project — releasing in three languages with an acclaimed star cast and under big banners.
What was particularly unusual in this cinematic journey was the way it all began for the young director and the role that his chance trip to Visakhapatnam played in 2012. In an interview with The Hindu , Sankalp Reddy spoke what drew his attention to the mysterious sinking of PNS Ghazi off the Visakhapatnam coast during the 1970 Indo-Pak. war and the challenges he faced. “I can never forget the day of November 23, 2012. I had gone to visit Annavaram temple and was supposed to return to Hyderabad from there when my train got delayed and in the process I happened to visit Vizag. There I saw the Kursura Submarine museum on the beach and was intrigued by the history of the 1971 Indo-Pak. war. By the end of my visit to Vizag, I made up my mind to do a film on the Indian Navy with the submarine as a part of it,” said the film-maker. Sankalp returned to Hyderabad and spent the rest of the time researching over the Internet about Ghazi. But the challenges had just begun for him. Being a classified mission, very few knew about the actual incidents that led to the incident. For Sankalp, the task that lay ahead was a mighty one — to piece together this event in history with all the resources he could find.
“I came back to Visakhapatnam with my team and spent time more than a month here to get the technical facts right. The curator of Kursura Museum G. Phani Raj was a big help who explained to me the history,” said Sankalp. He spoke to some retired naval officers of the city for understanding the chain of events and spent another eight months in research. “There are two versions explaining the sinking of the Pak. submarine. I have stuck to the Indian version in the film. My story also takes some cinematic liberties and is a work of fiction inspired by true events,” said the director.
The crew spent two days at the dockyard here to shoot some scenes along with some aerial shots of the coastline, which were modified to recreate the 1970s by the use of computer graphics. After five years of struggle to get finances, and hard work to understand the historical facts, Ghazi is finally ready to hit the big screen on February 17, and Sankalp cannot contain his pride. “It’s like a dream come true for me. You will feel proud after seeing the film. Ghazi Attack is the first of its kind film ever to release in Indian cinema, which makes me immensely proud.”
