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), Sonu Sinha (screenplay)

Stars:

Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur, Kumud Mishra

Top Rated Indian Movies #105 | 1 win & 3 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:

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

After the real life mission was successful, Air India entered the Guinness Book of World Records for being a civil airline that helped evacuate the highest number of people ever.

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Goofs

In the scene where the school buses are pressed into service to transport the refugees, the make of the bus is shown to be Ashok Leyland and the model is Falcon. The logo shows the name of Ashok Leyland in a font that was created only in the late 2000s and the Falcon bus was first made in 2001. The movie set in 1990 could not have these.

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Quotes

Ranjit Katyal: The only thing that sets us apart is that we are Indians and not Kuwaitis. If we are together, we matter. Otherwise, we mean nothing.

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Crazy Credits

Before the end credits roll, cards stating the contributions of Mr. Mathunny Mathews and Mr. Vedi, on whose efforts this film is based, are shown.

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Connections

Referenced in Kaun Banega Crorepati?: Please Welcome Aamir Khan (2018)

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Soundtracks

Tu Bhoola Jise
Written by : Kumaar
Produced by: Amal Mallik
Performed by: Krishnakumar Kunnath

User Reviews

Historic Airlift..... One of India's best movie ever..... Akshay Kumar is just awesome He's the Best

What a beautiful gift to the Indian Cinema by Akshay Kumar, Raja Menon & the whole team of Airlift. The story of biggest human evacuation told amazingly well. Its so good from the start to end that you can feel what condition those 1,70,000 Indians would have gone through. Clap, clap & clap in the end that's what me & the whole theater was doing.

Akshay Kumar as Ranjit Katiyal was just awesome he has taken his acting to another level with this one. Salute to him for doing amazing & inspirational movies like OMG, Holiday, Baby, Gabbar & now Airlift. Nimrat Kaur as his wife was just too good, her scene with Prakash Belawadi is awesome & clap worthy. Purab Kohli, Kumud Mishra & especially Prakash Belawadi were too good.

Direction by Raja Menon is fabulous he has done a great work in researching this true story.

Feeling so proud to be an Indian & realized what great thing my country India has done for all of us. Salute to all those unsung heroes of this biggest human evacuation ever.

And Thank You to the whole team of Airlift for this historic movie. One of India's best ever.