Neerja

About the film

Neerja is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical thriller film directed by Ram Madhvani and written by Saiwyn Quadras and Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh. It was produced by Atul Kasbekar's company, Bling Unplugged, alongside Fox Star Studios. The film stars Sonam Kapoor as the eponymous lead, with Shekhar Ravjiani, Shabana Azmi, Yogendra Tiku, Kavi Shastri and Jim Sarbh in supporting roles.

The plot is based on a real-life event: the attempted hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan by Libyan-backed Abu Nidal Organization on 5 September 1986. The film is shown from the point of view of the head purser of the flight, Neerja Bhanot, who thwarted the hijack attempt by alerting the pilots, thus grounding the plane. Bhanot died trying to help save the passengers and crew, of whom 359 of the 379 on board survived.

Plot

22-year-old Neerja Bhanot arrives late for a house party one evening. Her mother, Rama, expresses concern about Neerja's job as a flight attendant, suggesting that Neerja should return to her old modelling career. Neerja insists on keeping her job. On the early morning of 5 September 1986, she is driven to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport by her friend Jaideep.

Neerja boards Pan Am Flight 73, from Mumbai to New York with stops in Karachi and Frankfurt. During the first leg, she reflects on her brief, unhappy arranged marriage to Naresh, a professional in Doha, Qatar, who abused her over her small dowry and inability to perform household work. She eventually returned home for a modelling contract. Naresh sent her parents a letter complaining about the dowry and their daughter's lack of domestic skills, demanding that Neerja either bring back the money or not return at all. Neerja left Naresh and landed a job with Pan Am Airways.

Meanwhile, the Abu Nidal organisation, a Libyan-sponsored Palestinian terrorist group, plans to hijack the plane in Karachi's Jinnah International Airport. The plane lands as scheduled wherein the four Abu Nidal terrorists, disguised as security officers escorting a Libyan diplomat, infiltrate the airport. Neerja quickly alerts the cockpit, without the terrorists knowing, and the three American pilots escape through the overhead hatch, fleeing to the terminal under fire from the hijackers. The American pilots had just enough time to escape, as the hijackers did not realise that the cockpit of a Boeing 747 is on the upper level.

Production

Pre-production work on Neerja began in September 2014, when the film's executive producer Atul Kasbekar said that his company, Bling Unplugged, would co-produce Ram Madhvani's film along with Fox Star Studios. Kasbekar later tweeted, "Do U Know Who Neerja Bhanot Is? No? Well U Really Really Should...". He said, "For us [...], a story of courage as exceptional as Neerja's simply deserved to be told. We just decided that we would do our bit to ensure that India would remember one of its great heroines."

The film's script and screenplay were penned by Saiwyn Quadras, and the dialogue was written by Sanyuktha Chawla Sheikh. The director of photography for the film was the cinematographer Mitesh Mirchandani, who had been previously associated with 2012 film Luv Shuv Tey Chicken Khurana. The editing for the film was done by Monisha R Baldawa and Manohar Verma served as the stunt director for the film.

Kapoor was contracted by Kasbekar to play Neerja Bhanot, the senior flight crew member. On receiving the role of Neerja in the film, Kapoor told the Press Trust of India (PTI), "I thought doing this film just reaffirms that it is about not bowing down. It is an inspiring story for me to do. I am blessed." It was reported in May 2015 that Shekhar Ravjiani, one half of Bollywood's performing/producing duo Vishal–Shekhar, would play a short role in the movie, marking his acting debut. Shabana Azmi played the role of Neerja's mother Rama Bhanot in the film. In an interview with The Indian Express, Azmi describes her character and explains, "It was very difficult to play her, particularly the last scene where Rama addresses an audience. It is an extremely well-written emotional scene, which does complete justice to the moment."

Music

The film's soundtrack is composed by Vishal Khurana K with lyrics written by Prasoon Joshi. The first song from the film, "Jeete Hain Chal", was released by Ram Madhvani, Sonam Kapoor and Prasoon Joshi at a launch event held on 1 February 2016 in Mumbai. The entire soundtrack album was released digitally by T-Series on 5 February 2016.

Release

The film had a special screening on 16 February 2016 in Mumbai, which was attended by celebrities, including filmmaker Karan Johar; Subhash Ghai; Kapoor's father, Anil Kapoor; Sachin Tendulkar; Yuvraj Singh; Sunil Gavaskar; Ayushmann Khurrana; and Amit Sadh. The film received a positive response from many Bollywood celebrities, with Tendulkar calling Neerja Bhanot a "Braveheart" and saying that "the people should definitely watch the film."

The film was released worldwide, in approximately 671 theatres, on 19 February 2016. Upon release, Neerja received positive reviews, with praise directed to Kapoor's performance, and was a huge box office success. The film was also praised by Delhi's Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, who tweeted that the film's message was, "Live for others, die for others." The film emerged as one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films featuring a female protagonist.

Key details