NEERJA Overview

NEERJA (the akin within the unakin.)

Directed by : Ram Madhvani

Written by: Saiwyn Quadras, Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh (dialogues)

Starring : Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Jim Sarbh

“Babumoshai, Zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahi.” When all the people who watched NEERJA, related this statement to Neerja Bhanot’s (Sonam Kapoor) gut-wrenching scenario turned ‘I’m-gonna-save-‘em-all’ temperament; I saw director Ram Madhvani apply this aphorism to his movie-making process for the film. Yes, it is a two-hour long movie. Long, but Great in spirit.

The film starts with a melody in Neerja’s lips and a twist in her mom’s, (Shabana Azmi) soothing laugh. Taking a dig at Neerja’s childhood. Oh wait, but do I have to? She mimicks Rajesh Khanna’s moves and with a child-like humour, dimisses away her brother’s jest over her appearance, with a teasing touch. She is just twenty two. What we expect is a similar innocent future for a model-cum-airhostess. But time possess a mocking deception, and even space contorts against the evil of it. Let alone a human, seeking for, as the people say, ‘a bright career’.

Now there is a challenge. A marked destiny for me. I will sweat the blood out. I will make it better. There is a soulful blessing disguised as love which I will reciprocate. Why, I feel my heart pounding faster. There are bodies with smiles on their faces and my beaus are busy treating them fair. Things seem to go as planned. But now I see these men, with violence on their brows and smoked calibres on their palms. Gun on my temple, the visitors feel violated. Have I landed on the wrong land or is it the fate with a smirk? I must protect my kindred or die trying.

This is just the mind of Neerja which I try, although vaguely, to uncover following her good-bye with the family. There are elements noticeable in NEERJA which distinguishes it from other much hyped about bollywood entries in the cinema halls in 2016. From displaying a playful and zesty emotion to what I already mentioned, a ‘gut-wrenching scenario,’ the mood of the audience is influenced cordially with what director Ram Madhavani attempts to portray. More attention on the sound effects could have uplifted the building angst of the viewers, but keeping in mind the visual craft, this flaw is easily neglected. Another very crucial factor adding to the pros of this movie is the liberties which the actors took to make Neerja as real as possible. There is no irritating Aisha’s Sonam Kapoor. This Sonam Kapoor is as brilliant as her sense in fashion. The game changer is the antagonist: Khalil (Jim Sarbh). I could never judge his (a foreign terrorist’s) linguistic problem to be faux. His desperation and fatigue, only an effort  of acting! If I were a hatter, I would gladly call for a hats-off performance. What leaves a long lasting impact on the viewers is the last message which Neerja leaves for her mother. You must witness this impact by yourself. Teary-eyed, Shabana Azmi is all but a diamond in the dark mine of Bollywood. 

Twenty people lost their lives in this (Pain Amplified) Pan Am Flight 73 airplane in Karachi. A boy pisses in his pants and a granny swells her eyes, credits to the fear faced by the former and the misery of the deceased heir shot in front of the latter. Grenades and AKs with willpower and a lasting numb cries of hundreds, this movie does not gives you chills but an ache for safety of the passengers over whom mankind does not lift its heavy hand. Some cinematographic details are brutal while other strange turns  in the nature of the rogues makes you wonder if someday you can make millions watch an episode of beauty turned “Papa ka bahadur bachcha” (Daddy’s brave girl).

P.S. If Airlift is a V8 powered Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Z06 then Neerja is Bugatti Chiron with a behemoth W16.