The patriotic fervour towards the end is all over the place. The songs are a hindrance to the pulsating narrative. Even so, she does seem a little too well turned-out for the occasion. Nimrat Kaur perfectly grabs the tone of an ordinary person, someone who doesn't want to concern herself with another's problem and cannot understand her do-gooder husband's need to otherwise. What's this ' Yeh Indian Indian khelna,' she demands to know. The charismatic actor features in practically every single frame of Airlift - Priya Seth's terrific camerawork dedicatedly captures his distress, doggedness, disillusionment and relief in detail as well the numerous (well-acted) pairs of eyes pinned on him for rescue. It's his grasp of Katyal more than the script itself voicing the bitter urgency of Airlift's on-going crisis. Larger-than-life might is commonplace, but larger-than-life intensity is rare.
Old-school gallantry, contemporary tone, his measured delivery is the soul of and saviour in Airlift.
Oh what a beauty Akshay's performance is. There's an interesting read-between-the-lines moment lamenting unstable governments as opposed to permanency of babus picturised on Surendra Pal and Mishra.Īnother one's where Akshay Kumar plays bluff with a quirkily menacing Iraqi army chief (Inaam-ul Haq, borderline caricature, bizarrely effective) during dinner is laced with sly tension. While Menon ticks all these boxes rather deftly, he doesn't dwell too much on the international politics or the feeble workings of diplomacy barring an occasional pot shot or two at the shoddy state of bureaucracy. In the face of absolute chaos, destruction and intimidation, desperation is spontaneous, solidarity makes sense and negotiation is the sole weapon of the civil folk. Instead, the plan of action in Airlift is devoid of strategy, schemes or smart. This ability to be on the ball and take charge makes him an easy pick to play mass protector, a role he accepts and fulfils slowly but surely.ĭo not picture a swashbuckling Akshay flapping his imaginary super cape and fixing things in a jiffy against blasting rock music. No sooner he learns about Saddam Hussein's invasion, he suggests that his wife (Nimrat Kaur) and daughter should immediately flee to London. Whats about : Airlift is a tale of heroism, courage, patriotism, edge-of-the-seat and heart-stopping. Pragmatic to the core, any mention of India invariably turns on his snarky side.
Back in 1990, during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, over 1,70,000 stranded Indian citizens were safely evacuated from Kuwait to India, one of the largest in history.įrom a record-breaking figure on paper to its flesh and blood adaptation on celluloid, Airlift is a honest endeavour to recount a horrifying chapter of history whilst paying tribute to its unsung heroes personified in Katyal's bravura and Sanjeev Kohli (a first-rate Kumud Mishra), an Indian government official working to expedite the said evacuation.
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