User Reviews

Airlift is a movie about about how 1 lakh, 70 thousand Indians were safely moved out of war torn Kuwait in Year 1990. It is shown that one man named Ranjit Katyal (fictional character) was mainly responsible for safety of all this Indians in Kuwait. Ranjit could have fled to safety all alone but chooses to save life of other Indians First.

Pros: It's a biography of an event which has its name even in Guiness book of world records, people must know about it, so a movie.. plus point there. One man centered story gives us a hero to praise for. Quality of a worthy leader is well portrayed.

Cons: Historically inaccurate, but that's fine.

Rating: 7.5/10.

Yes, we had a great plot in our baggage. A true story intended to pan out a biopic that could have turned heads, made some noise about the plight of 170000 stuck Indians in a warzone. An immaculate rescue operation that was so colossal that it lodged its name in the Guinness Book of World Records for being one of the largest evacuations of all times.

But what does Menon do with it? He changes facts, people, creates sheer fiction, rules out details, comes with a hand-woven shoddy script to replace the truth, places his own fake characters to enrich melodrama, throws in some songs in there to deliberately connect with the Indian audience, enforces unrealistic patriotism for emphasis, and squeezes in pointless unwanted tantrums to say the least.

SPOILERS AHEAD: The movie begins by depicting the lavish life of the protagonist whilst noisily pointing out how little Katyal, a big fish in the Kuwait business suburbs, thought of his homeland. He had turned, as suggested by a brayed intentional laugh of his friends, more Kuwaitian than a Kuwaitian himself. These bits again seemed forced rather than appear natural so as to benefit the script.

Chaos depicted by some pathetic CGI bombing, tanks and helicopters raids manifest how little we have progressed in movie making. Third grade young actors chosen here try to scare you with guns and a foreign accent. They fail terribly at it. Their acts were excruciatingly unpromising as they try to kick someone lethargically on the butt, shoot people to nail in absent fear, make advances at young girls, or occasionally stop people for intimidating enquiry. Amidst all the mayhem Akshay Kumar cries which somehow doesn't blend in with the unconvincing setup. Also, when he runs home to not discover his wife and child, whilst looking unperturbed by the snot lazily hanging from his nose (which seemed a very forceful shot by Menon BTW), really squeezed out acting from him, which pretty soon disappeared in its next impending frames. Menon tries to shoehorn drama in there which seemed more enacted to have ever reached a gut-wrenching point.

What was however quite endearing to watch was how the movie unfurls into better horizons from there as the protagonist starts taking effective measures to get the job done. The way the story oscillates with the 'how' is the crux of the flick. It however also tries to milk a character called George, played by Prakash Belawadi, depictive of a head that doesn't work well with the mass. What it failed to cash on was its moniker. The fact that Air India flew over 488 air planes in a war-hit zone was humongous, but it was vaguely mentioned in a daft line by Akshay. True heroics get overshadowed right there.

After watching this you will miss Neeraj Pandey big time, or even hope the likes of Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee or even the newcomer Neeraj Ghaywan to have picked this up. Airlift failed to engage and rivet us. The music couldn't captivate us and there was hardly an adrenaline moment to keep our jaws wide open for long. To say that it even came close to the likes of Argo would be downright foolish.

Alas! the damage has been done. What you have is mediocre served on your platter! What could have turned into something phenomenal ends up being an average Indian mainstream movie. It is quite unfortunate that the Indian mass loves this kind of stuff. I would call it nothing but an average crowd entertainer.

Go with lesser expectations and you might enjoy it.

What do you say about a movie like Airlift?

THIS IS IT! (Remo Fernandes in Jhalak Dikhla Ja)

One hasn't been to too many First Day Shows in the recent past. But this story was too compelling to pass up. One lugged a child and his friend and the friend's mother. All 4 to a First Day Show. And what a treat!

The background music blends in so subtly you don't even notice it. The rest of the score is soothing, melodious and easy on the ears - not a mean feat for a quasi action film. BUT.. the best part is this - the characters are so beautifully etched. Each one of them - including the ensemble cast. Everyone has a place to fill, and everyone fills that place so well. Full marks to the Casting Director! And the actors, of course.

I have become an Akshay Kumar fan in the recent years. From being Bollywood's favourite Khiladi in more ways than one, this person has matured as an actor. He brings that rare thing to the screen - persona. Nimrat Kaur does justice to her role. I would have liked a lot more layering in the expressions of this rather complex character, but that's just me. Joseph - who grows in stature from that first shot when Akshay Kumar is asking him how much moneys they have, to the end. Purab Kohli as Iqbal.. what can one say? He stands out, really, REALLY stands out, is all. You will have to see his performance to know what I mean. From the man who escorts the hero to a small gathering of friends in a supermarket, to the man who ensures an identity for a woman with an infant, and then looks the hero in the eye as he walks past, this man truly is an equal.

But this was not one man's victory. Nor was it the story of one man. There were so many invisible hands who made this happen. They have been acknowledged in the end, but only in passing. They deserved so much more credit for standing by a man and supporting his battle.

One Lakh Seventy Thousand WOWs for this movie. I can only imagine the scale of that number. A full residential complex with 1000 flats has only 5000 people on average. A full movie hall - maybe 150. A flight - 300? 448 flights. Those are numbers that will remain in our mind for a long, long time. Sad that it took so long for someone to tell such an inspirational story, but that time only makes it more special, as we are in a position to look back and appreciate how that one battle of 1990 changed the course of world history, and continues to do so - 25 years later.

The following article is based on K.P. Fabian's recent interview (The then Joint secretary of Gulf-division.)

The director did it deliberately to portray the MEA in a poor light. I agree that, the director had the freedom to portray Katyal, but the diplomats in the MEA were not fictional characters. They were real people who did an incredible job. I think fictionalization of characters of the MEA, and deny them the right of credit for their work, is unethical.

A lot of the viewers of the film were born after the incident in Kuwait. They need to be educated on their genuine inheritance and history from the First Gulf War. For example, the Ambassador of India in Kuwait, Kamal Bakshi, was portrayed in a very poor light. In reality, Ambassador Bakshi accommodated hundreds of Indians in the embassy and in several other available buildings. The film trivializes the issues. This appears like a deliberate attempt to spread misinformation.

In a sequence, the film shows Air India pilots also in a demeaning manner. The Air India did a great job during the war. Appears like the filmmaker deliberately dealt with Air India dismissively.

In fact, the evacuation was organized by a Cabinet Subcommittee which was chaired by then External Affairs Minister I.K. Gujral. There was excellent coordination among the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Ministry of External Affairs and Air India. We were careful about the developments and we did not condemn Iraq as we had 1,76,000 Indians in Kuwait and Iraq and Kuwait was under Saddam Hussein. We were under American pressure, but we resisted them and avoided condemning the Iraqi action. Mr. Gujral met James Baker Jr, his American counterpart, and conveyed our point of view. In the middle of that crisis, a major issue erupted when during our trip to the region, I.K. Gujral "hugged" Saddam Hussein. The fact is that Gujral did not hug Saddam, instead it was Saddam who hugged Gujral. We were of course reaching out to all sides to get out our people from a very dangerous conflict zone.

We also activated the Non-aligned network involving Yugoslavia, Algeria and other friends of India. Americans were treating Saddam Hussein contemptuously and there was no chance of a compromise between the Americans and the Iraqis.

We organized the evacuation in as best a way as possible. We contacted the associations of various Indian communities in Kuwait so that every community could be represented even at the stage of evacuation. The film portrays Mr. Gujral as extremely reluctant. The director made the film without any idea of how the Ministry of External Affairs works.

During Mr. Gujral's trip to Kuwait, he was informed by the Indian diplomats that he should not step out as there was a big crowd of 3,000 people. But Mr. Gujral got on the bonnet of the car and delivered a speech to the same agitated crowd and within four minutes the crowd started saying "Bharat Mata Ki Jai". Young people who are watching this film are getting a wrong impression of their history.

Milestones as airlift are rarely produced. Choice of star cast was amazing. 'GEORGE' is too good. Inaamhulaq is very impressive. Story is beautifully narrated without losing the grip . Everyone has given 100% either Nimrat or Purab. Performance by Akshay is at its seventh. A glimpse of every side of him is visible. Most importantly, even the Indian flag can make feel safe (truly patriotic and heart throbbing), after all "its our nature to call mother when hurt " . Overall, its a must watch. " I can't give you a reason to watch this movie, but grant yourself a one; so as to know who we Indians are and what we have done".