Airlift (2016)

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

Director:

Raja Menon

Writers:

Raja Menon (story), Ritesh Shah (screenplay)

Stars:

Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur, Kumud Mishra

Top Rated Indian Movies #88 | 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Akshay Kumar	...	Ranjit Katyal
Nimrat Kaur	...	Amrita Katyal
Kumud Mishra	...	Sanjeev Kohli
Prakash Belawadi	...	George
Inaamulhaq	...	Major Khalaf Bin Zayd
Lena	...	George's Wife (as Lena Kumar)
Nissar Khan	...	Ashok
Ninad Kamat	...	Kurien
Kaizaad Kotwal	...	Poonawalla
Feryna Wazheir	...	Tasneem
Ajay Kumar	...	Joseph
Purab Kohli	...	Ibrahim Durrani
Gunjan Malhotra	...	Meher Poonawala
Pooja Nair	...	Preethi
Taranjit Kaur	...	Nair's Wife (as Taranjeet Kaur)

Storyline

It is in this scenario that Ranjit Katyal (played by Akshay Kumar), a wealthy and powerful Indian businessman, who has always seen himself as a Kuwaiti, rather than an Indian, realizes that he no longer wields any influence on the Iraqis, and that he and his family are in as much danger as anyone else. Ranjit unknowingly becomes the man who all 170,000 Indians look up to for getting them out safely from Kuwait. Airlift is the story of Indians stranded in Kuwait during this traumatic time. A story of how they, with the help of Ranjit Katyal, managed to survive the Iraqi invasion, and against all odds traveled a thousand kilometers across the border into Amman, Jordan. From Amman, 170,000 Indians were brought home by the largest and the most successful evacuation ever attempted by any country, in the history of the world. Over 59 days, the Indian government systematically flew over 488 Air India commercial flights into a war zone to evacuate all 170,000 Indians and safely bring them ...

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Plot Keywords:

kuwait | businessman | evacuation | 1990s | historical fiction | 

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Taglines:

1,70,000 refugees. 488 flights. 59 days. 1 man

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Genres:

Action | Drama | History

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Facebook

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi Malayalam Arabic

Release Date:

22 January 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gong-su-jak-jjeon

Filming Locations:

Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India

Box Office

Budget:

$4,400,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

INR 443,000,000 (India), 24 January 2016

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$28,000,000, 5 February 2016

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cape of Good Films, Emmay Entertainment, T-Series

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min 119 min (Netflix)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The central character, Ranjit Katyal is based on Mr. Mathunny Mathews (popularly known as Toyota Sunny) a prominent businessman in Kuwait. He was there till the last flight took off with Indians on board.

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Goofs

In the movie, the characters are shown as drinking and eating from Al Manama Supermarket. In reality, Al Manama Supermarket only has branches in United Arab Emirates and India but not in Kuwait.

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Connections

References Tezaab (1988)

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Soundtracks

Mera Nachan Nu
Written by : Kumaar
Produced by: Amal Mallik
Performed by: Brijesh Shandilya, Divya Kumar and Amal Mallik

User Reviews

Airlift movie review: Akshay Kumar film is well executed and well-acted

Over the years Akshay Kumar's choice of selecting the films has certainly improved with significant examples being Holiday, Baby, Special Chabbis, Gabbar Is Back to name few. Move over commercial masala potboilers with item songs, hero smashing 10 guys with a single blow and typical song-dance routine – Raja Menon's Airlift will give you goosebumps with fast-paced gritting thrills and excitement. Based on a true story, Airlift speaks about the Ranjit Katyal (played by Akshay Kumar) who helps the Indian Government collaborate with Air India to help evacuate 1,70,000 Indians from Kuwait after Iraq raided the country. From the director of critical acclaimed films like Bas Yun Hi and Barah Aana, Raja Menon does a fantastic research about the feat that was even recorded in the Guinness Book of World Record and surprisingly people are unaware about it. Airlift will consume you right from the beginning especially when Akshay's family faces the issue of Iraqi raiding Kuwait. From here onward, there is no turning back as the movie gives you nice twist-n-turns with well- choreographed action scenes. Icing on the cake is the climax scenes which has been well executed. On the flip side, length of the movie could have been reduced little further. But brilliant screenplay, Art direction and cinematography is spellbinding. Background score gels well with the mood of the film. Dialogues are fine. The music of the film is doing well on the chartbuster. The soulful number such as 'Soch Na Sake' is already a superhit among the viewers. Besides, other tracks are catching up fast as well. It is Akshay Kumar's show all the way. A thumbs up to him for doing something different from his usual masala potboilers. After giving back-to-back hits in 2015 with Baby, Gabbar Is Back and Singh Is Bliing, Akshay Kumar is definitely on a roll. With Holiday, Baby and now Airlift, Akshay Kumar has managed to create a image of "Mera Bharat Mahaan" actor and fans will love him in new avatar. The fresh pairing of Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur works well. Nimrat Kaur's realistic subtlety would harness Akshay Kumar's machismo and give us that perfect thriller Overall , Airlift is nail-biting, reality-based action thriller that is going to give you goose bumps. Brilliant 4.5/5