
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 tr... (Full plot summary below)
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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 back home. Airlift is an uplifting and entertaining edge-of-the-seat thriller and is the story of the biggest ever human evacuation in the history of mankind.
Leave your thoughts about Airlift.
| ReutersShilpa JamkhandikarThe film belongs to Akshay Kumar. He is in almost every scene and this is an author-backed role that he obviously relishes. Even if you aren't the patriotic sort, his performance is reason enough to watch the film. |
| The Times of IndiaSrijana Mitra DasAirlift features Akshay at his best -- based on real-life characters, there's little khiladi-wala swag in Akshay's performance and more mature control. |
| The HinduNamrata JoshiValid questions perhaps that come riding on jingoism, all wrapped up in the tricolour. Airlift would have been a better film without this nationalistic bluster but has a bigger potential at the box office now with the Republic Day just round the corner. |
| Time OutAnil Sinanan'Bollywood' and 'realism' may not go hand in hand, but this is a worthy and largely successful attempt at meaningful commercial Hindi cinema. |
| Hindustan TimesAnupama ChopraIf nothing else, see it to see what Akshay Kumar can do. |
| Scroll.inNandini RamnathAirlift soars on its own merits, but it is ultimately a flight of fantasy. |
| Hindustan TimesSweta KaushalThough an action-packed story, Airlift's strength lies in the turbulent emotions of people at the mercy of each other's generosity and self-preservation. |
| GuardianMike McCahillAirlift transports its characters the 2,500 miles back to their promised land, as history demands, but I wouldn't trust its underlying nationalism as far as I could throw it. |
| User ReviewShreehari HAirlift is a Bollywood flick from 2016 that is based on a true story about over 170,000 Indians that had to flee Kuwait at the time of the 1990 Iraq invasion and war. This tells the story about how one man managed to save them all and bring them back to the safety of India. This was an epic movie and well done. It is two hours long and does take some time to get through but totally worth it. What gets to me is we watch these kinds of movies and it shows us how we are the same and no matter where we come from our backgrounds our religious beliefs why can we still not see each other as one family. Why does it take tragedy or war for us to wake up to see that we are all part of one human race. Watch the movie and hopefully you will be touched by a powerful true story about what humanity is capable of from both sides. |
| User ReviewShy ATremendous! One of the best films I've seen in my whole life, even with subtitles. See it if you can. Airlift is better than most of the Best Picture nominees by a mile. |