AIRLIFT – Bollywood’s answer to Argo

Movies based on real-life incidents have been trending over the past decade. It is common understanding that the Oscars are reserved mostly for movies following the “Real-Life” theme year after year. Hollywood understood the potential of this theme a long time back and have reaped its benefits hugely over the years. Bollywood is lagging behind, but movies such as Airlift will put faith among Indian Audiences, who yearn for Desi “Real-Life” Movies. 

Airlift is the story of how Ranjith Katyal, a Kuwait-based Indian Businessman, helped more than one lakh fellow Indians to escape the Iraqi Invasion of Kuwait and back to their home nation. It is to be noted that this rescue operation is the largest till date and the director, Mr.Raja Krishna Menon, has done full justice to the story by coming up with a screenplay that keeps things tight but with a few commercial elements to keep the audience entertained.

Akshay Kumar has delivered an excellent performance as Ranjit Katyal. The Khiladi is known for his action stunts but with the script requiring zero action, he has focussed more on delivering better emotions and has succeeded in giving one of the best performances of his career. Nimrat Kaur had already received critical acclaim with her performance in “The Lunch Box” and as Amrita Katyal, she portrays multiple roles and delivers multiple emotions as a mother who worries for the safety of her child and as a wife who defends her husband’s honour at question. Both Akshay and Nimrat are well supported by the rest of the cast. Purab Kohli as Ibrahim Durrani gives his best as a person who tries to aid any and all in distress. Inamullhaq as Major Khalaf Bin Zayd of the Iraqi Army is good but his dialogues are a bit difficult to understand, owing to his Iraqi style of speech.

Cinematography should be given special mention, with multiple shots being canned well by Priya Seth. Scenes of the Iraqi army raiding Kuwait City, the aftermath of the raids and the escape of Indians to Jordan aren’t exactly originally thought but have been shot well. Most of the shots are tightly held to show the emotions of the people and the thoughts that are going on in their minds. Comedy elements in the movie have fell flat mostly.

Airlift is a movie that overflows with emotions. The way that Ranjit Katyal moves from being a self and family-serving person to someone who saves his fellow compatriots from danger brings in the Messiah element in the movie. The portrayal of the Ministry of External Affairs being incompetent and showing a lack of interest in helping its own people stuck in foreign nations, shows us how well things have changed in recent times. Watch this movie for Akshay’s performance, solid cinematography by Priya Seth and the good story-telling style of Raja Krishna Menon.

So how did u enjoy Airlift.. Let us know at the comments section below..