WITH FLYING COLOURS
NEERJA Direction: Ram Madhvani Actors: Shabana Azmi, Sonam Kapoor, Shekhar Ravjiani Rating:
What is it like to spend 16 hours trapped in a hijacked plane? What is the anguish of having your daughter come home in a coffin? What is the taste of terror? In Neerja, director Ram Madhvani recreates the last day in the life of a 23 year-old Pan Am flight purser, who was killed in 1986. The New York bound flight was taken over by Palestinian terrorists when it halted at Karachi. Following protocol, the pilots abandoned the cockpit. Neerja Bhanot, who was on her first flight, as head purser, took charge. She hid American passports and eventually opened the emergency exits. Neerja saved 359 lives. She was shot dead as she huddled children to safety.
Ram and writers Saiwyn Quadras and Sanyuktha Chawla dramatise and embellish this story. In their telling, Neerja is a Rajesh Khanna fan. Early in the film, she delivers his iconic dialogue from Anand — Zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahin. And then over the next two hours, she exemplifies exactly that. Ram begins by intercutting between Karachi and Bombay — it was called that in 1986. Terrorists prepare bombs while children play with balloons at a building party where Neerja works the mike as the unofficial MC. We see her ordinary home, her gentle middle-class parents, her dog who sleeps on the bed with her. Each scene adds to your dread because you know that eventually these two worlds will tragically collide. Using hand-held cameras and long takes, Ram immerses you into the action. Hijack dramas usually follow a fixed template – you always get a pregnant lady, a granny, kids. We have them here too but the characters don’t come with backstories. We know nothing about anyone else on this plane. Sonam, who deep dives into Neerja — she is vivacious and vulnerable, brave but also broken inside. This is easily Sonam’s best performance.
The film is also centered by the masterful Shabana Azmi who plays Neerja’s mother Rama Bhanot. Like most Indian mothers, Rama is over-protective and fussy but she is also warm and wise and ultimately heartbreaking. When she speaks about losing Neerja, it truly wrenches your insides.