Well Executed but faces pace issues

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2016)

Airlift is a drama- thriller based on true events during the Gulf war or the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait during August 1990. The film focuses on the evacuation of Indian expatriates stuck in the war zone as homeless. This was the largest evacuation done using civil airlines and it is in the Guinness books. So that is pretty much about the main plot. The story starts initially showing one Indian tycoon Ranjit katyal (Akshay kumar or Akki) who is one of the richest persons in Kuwait those days who loves to refer himself as a Kuwaiti rather an Indian. We even see his psyche from few scenes where he loves listening to Arabic songs, thinks anything fair for profit and dumping his friend and partner. He leads an aristocratic life with his wife Amrita essayed by Nimrat kaur. After the breakout of the war this man turns out to be extra ordinary leaving all his aristocratic nature and becomes a selfless leader who struggles to take all Indians stuck in this situation back home. Then we see how this mission becomes successful. Akki has done justice to his role. Nirmat didn't have much to score except one scene where she talks for her husband otherwise she fits perfect to the role with her make over. We have an ensemble supporting cast who have played their roles perfectly and created an impact with their lesser screen space. Worth mention would be Prakash Belawadi as the annoying person in the camp who always finds fault. Also Feryana as the Kuwaiti survivor looks picture perfect on the role. On the downside of casting The Iraqi major role played by Inaam-ul- Haq was not at all convincing rather it was so false even though he has tried to follow the accent (dis- appointing the team should have afforded a convincing foreign face rather an Indian for this crucial role. Though the film was shot close to reality I wouldn't say it is perfect as it also stumbles on some cinematic and budget constraints in creation of Kuwait. The film's pace is its strength as well as weakness. The pace seems to be perfect in sketching the seriousness of the situation but later towards the climax seems to be rushed up. Naming the film as "Airlift" the actual evacuation towards the end flies in ten minutes so which sums up like the struggle Indians faced prior to the airlift was more focused. Also the time reference could have been made clear like at the end of the credits we hear it was 59 days' mission 488 flights but in the main plot we see the prior stage to this probably two weeks of suffering like from 1st of August the day it started.Overall it ends up as an engaging thriller which ends with lots of goose bumps moments.