Photo copyrights: Fox Star Studios

Venue: PVR Saket
Date: 15 March, 2016

Much is being discussed about the recently released film “Neerja”. It is indeed one piece of excellent work. To avoid stating the obvious, here are some thoughts.

Handsome is what handsome does. “Neerja” tells the story of Neerja Bhanot who was much more than just a pretty model/air hostess and how she sacrificed her life and saved hundreds of passengers in a hijacked PANAM plane.

While Neerja Bhanot broke the stereotype that models/air hostesses are just pretty faces, Sonam Kapoor couldn’t do so. She can’t act to save her life… well in this case literally. It’s sad that she couldn’t do justice to such a meaty author backed role. She’s as amateur in this film as she was in her earlier films like “Prem Ratan Dhan Payo and Ranjhana“. Thankfully, notwithstanding how she acted, the film turned out to be great.

It will take more than three hankies to weep in this film. One watches it with a heavy heart and towards the climax all throats are choked and one can hear the snivelling and weeping across the hall. The theme of the film is serious and Ram Madhvani didn’t waste any time in making a biopic on Neerja but stuck to the tragedy of the plane hijack. The direction and editing are crisp, background music appropriate and supporting cast impressive.

Shabana Azmi is not a cut-out for playing a Punjabi woman (“Bride and Prejudice” / “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife” etc). She’s not totally off here but not outstanding as well. In fact we liked Yogendra Tiku (“Queen” fame) a lot as Neerja’s father. This actor is bringing back the respect character artists deserve by his understated but noticeable roles. We also spotted him recently, watching Vinay Pathak on stage in Saurabh Shukla’s play “Barff” in Delhi.

Concluding thought – this film is a masterpiece and a must watch. But it is HEAVY. Given that it is based on a real incident, it hits the audience harder. Therefore, if you are watching this film, do remember, at this point, it is not real. It has just being enacted on celluloid and is an admirable work of art.