Airlift is about the braveheart Ranjit Katyal, the unsung unknown hero who masterminded the evacuation of thousands of Indians stranded in Kuwait in August 1990 when Saddam Hussein’s battle-drunk army decided to do a Trump.
Recalling the experience of making this notable film, with Akshay Kumar’s best performance , director Raja Krishna Menon says, “I reflect on the collaborations with my team, and understand now what each one brought to make the film iconic. It’ll always be special to me and every one who worked on it deserves the credit. Nikkhil Advani for backing such an improbable project. Monisha Madhu and Vikram Malhotra for adding muscle, Bhushan Kumarji for giving the film the platform to succeed, the writers Rietesh Shah, Suresh Nair and Rahul Nangia. Priya Seth, Debashish Mishra Hemanti Sarkar, Mustafa Stationwala, Amaal Mallik. So many I can’t name. I look back and feel humbled to have had the chance to tell this story and have all of these fabulous people give me their trust.”
Menon says he lived with the project for ten years. “The first draft of the script I wrote was ten years before the film started shooting. Nikkhil Advani asked me to narrate a story I believed would never be made and that was the start of this incredible journey. I did not have much context to Bollywood so when Akshay came on board even as I was finishing my first narration, to him, I didn’t realise the enormity of that moment.”
The original true story of a Kuwait businessman who masterminds the evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the Invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, couldn’t be shot in Kuwait?
Recalls Menon, “Finding our Kuwait in Ras Al-Khaimah, creating the iconic one shot when Akshay drives through ravaged streets, the shot in the house ending with snot escaping his nostril, finding perchance the real photos of the evacuation 24 hours before we went to print… I believe Airlift had a destiny beyond what all of us brought to the project and everyone gave more than 100%. All of us had no expectations of success even on the day of the release and the audience forced us to stand up and showed us how they are. I still find the reaction to Airlift difficult to believe and it will always humble me. Even today I meet people who can’t stop talking about how much Airlift meant to them. And that is the greatest compliment a set of artists who came together and gave their all can ever hope for.”
On Akshay unable to encore his Airlift performance, Menon says, “Akshay had a great run after Airlift so I wouldn’t say his films failed. He re-invented himself, I think. It’s cyclic isnt it? Success and failure at the box office. I’m certain he will once again be in films that are hugely successful. I feel we got Airlift right. I don’t know if I can do another film as powerful as Airlift. I can only hope to tell a good story. To be significant, the stars must align but I do realise what it takes and how many people have to bring their A game to the project to make another Airlift. I hope I am at that place where I can bring all those people together and harness that energy to tell another story that is as significant as Airlift.’
