There was a Bollywood moment in Parliament on Friday after acting finance minister Piyush Goyal talked about a recent patriotic film while presenting the BJP-led government’s interim Budget.

Goyal, standing in for Arun Jaitley, praised “Uri: The Surgical Strike” after senior BJP leader LK Advani nudged him just as he was about to speak on the entertainment industry during the interim Budget presentation.

“I had the opportunity too to watch the film recently. ‘Kya josh tha, kya mahaul tha’ (the atmosphere was great),” Goyal said about the film on India’s surgical strike on terror launch pads in Pakistan.

The minister’s comments were greeted by several BJP leaders, including Paresh Rawal, who was also part of the film, as they thumped their desks in Parliament.

Advani, who was a film critic at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) ‘Organizer’, watched the movie with his daughter Pratibha recently.

Several BJP leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar have also praised the film. Modi also used “How’s the Josh”, a war cry used by the film’s hero, to greet the film fraternity at an event recently.

“Uri:...” is based on the surgical strike carried out by the Indian Armed forces in 2016 after the attack by Pakistan-based militants on a military camp in which several soldiers were killed.

The movie was released on January 11 and starred Vicky Kaushal, Yami Gautam and Mohit Raina.

First Published: Feb 01, 2019 16:01 IST