Airlift – Lifts your spirit in the air

I watched Airlift at Palazzo Cinemas in Vijaya Forum Mall, on 30^th Jan. The movie, to put it quite simply, was brilliant. Is a must watch for any movie watcher, which in India, is pretty much every other person.

The story is about how a group of people are impacted by events beyond their control, lose their property, are stranded and left to survive on their own, with complete Government apathy and how a a large-hearted individual helps these people reach a safe state. No, this movie is not about the Chennai deluge of December 2015, but rather, it is set in Kuwait, circa 1990, when Saddam invaded Kuwait and portrays a born-Indian-now-Kuwaiti businessman’s single minded dogged pursuit of rescuing 1.7 lakh Indians stuck in Kuwait. This story is inspired by real life events where two people coordinated this entire rescue operation with the help of Government officials in India.

The movie simply revolves around Akshay Kumar, who one has to admit, has done an outstanding job clearly proving yet again, that the brash young Khiladi is now a mature veteran. He is practically present in every scene and looks very much the part.

I believe there is influence of Malayalam cinema in this movie in the form of the co-producer or Director and it is something that is needed. I am sure it helped Akshay emote within limits and helped keep the movie real. There was a scene where he meets with Iraqi minister Tariq Aziz and I don’t remember seeing anyone act with their body like Akshay did; facial expressions are easily done by most, but body-language is not something that everyone looks into and Akshay nailed it here.

The other good thing about the movie was the absence of the pace impeding song-dance-fight sequences. There were a couple of songs in between, but they were more of voice-overs with the purpose of moving the story along.

For a movie that was all about Indians being stranded in what became no-man’s land and where everyone wanted to return back home, there was literally NO jingoism. Possibly the flag-raising sequence at the end was in that territory, but again there was nothing over the top. And it was in fact a genuine scene placement, blending well with the situation.

Another aspect was that despite being an inspired story, the main character was retained as a Punjabi Hindu; possibly Sikh, but not as a Muslim, just to cater to some “class” audience. The Director had abundant opportunity to fit in a Hindu vs Muslim fight in the camp and then getting the main character to give a sermon about the greatness of India, the commonality of religion etc. Admirably, the Director (influenced or not by the Producers) has chosen not to go in that route and focuses only on the logistical challenges that the protagonist faces.

Yes, you can get nit-picky and point out to discrepancies – like Akshay’s stubble pretty much remaining constant over so many days; or the people dancing to Bhangra when mostly they are Malayalis etc. – but I think in the overall context of the movie, these can be excused.

All in all, a great movie and an inspiring story. This is a story, which I wouldn’t have accepted 2 months back. But seeing the numerous Volunteer stories from Chennai floods of December 2015, I can completely understand and accept that at times of great distress, people like Ranjit Katiyal can and do shed their hides, to become extraordinary human beings. 

P.S.: I still wonder why it has taken someone 25 years to make a movie on this evacuation. Were the Khans and chamchas afraid to show Iraq in poor light?