Airlift

Airlift (2016)
Dir. Raja Menon
Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur

Akshay Kumar has the perfect stature and build of a hard-boiled marine, a brilliant comic timing and genuine persona, none of which is utilised to its full potential in it. His collaborations with Neeraj Pandey (Special 26, Baby) have utilised this to bring out perfect thrillers, with a desi tone.

When Iraq invades Kuwait in August, 1990, a callous Indian businessman – Ranjit Katyal – becomes the spokesperson for more than 170,000 stranded countrymen.

The parallels to Oskar Schindler, (as potrayed by Liam Neeson) in Schindler’s List are too over bearing that a large part of the first half can be traced out to be a remake of sorts – albeit with a less ambiguous, and less subtle Ranjit Katyal – who drinks and parties in the beginning; tries to be a savior to those working for him, and even has parallels to Itzhak Stern, jotting down a list of people they have in their camp; Major Khalaf Bin Zayd (Inaamulhaq) a humorous potrayal of a less psychopathic parallel to Amon Goth, who is being appeased by Ranjit through premium whisky and suitcases of money.

It seems that while the filmmakers intended to condense a true story of true grit and passion, they were somewhat unsure of the sturdiness of their audience -the song and dance routines are uncalled for, and often disrupting. It’s only Akshay Kumar’s sincerity that keeps it believable.

Technically, the film looks quite sound. The scenes where Akshay Kumar passes through the city in his car, watching the horrors of war are brilliant – you get to feel the claustrophobia (fear of confined places) in a wide landscape- the land and the people is now basically unknown to you – your identity is limited to the ones you know and the ones you wish to care about.

The basic question that it asks, and the one that uplifts its powerful message is that of identity (if brought down a bit by forced patriotism – the identity of a nation is subtly rides throughout the film – it resides with the people – one need not wait for the moment the flag has to rise and furl to feel united – it breaks down all the realism you have built throughout the 2 hours onscreen – Look at Madras Cafe – it plays subtly, and respects its audience-though it might have already chosen a smaller section of the public as its audience). Ranjit dwells initially as whether to consider themselves as Kuwaiti or Indian; and then who all are idenitified as a family; whether a nation is identified by  its government, military or people; and whether government is identified by its ministers, or its servants (bureaucrats).

They had a powerful cast at hand, and a powerful story. Yet, I left the theater as blank as I had entered, though more informed probably.

2.5/5