The film is based on the real-life conflict and bloodshed that took place twenty five years back in Kuwait, and the way it is done—with a sense of urgency and immediacy, bringing alive a city over-run and under siege—sends out a crucial message to star-driven-yet-drivel-producing Bollywood. That given the backing of an A-list star, anything is possible
Ranjit Katyal ( Akshay Kumar) , a rich Indian businessman in Kuwait, doesn’t think highly of India. In fact as the opening belly dancing number proves he prefers Khaled’s Didi to Ek Do Teen. But this anti-India tune changes when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sends in soldiers and tanks into Kuwait and all hell breaks loose. Kuwait isn’t the idyllic place anymore and Katyal and his wife ( Nimrat Kaur) are eager to get out. Where do they go? Home aka India, of course.
But Katyal soon discovers that with great wealth comes a greater sense of corporate social responsibility. Instead of running away from the problem, Katyal decides to stay put to provide shelter and take accountability for one lakh and seventy thousand Indians stranded in Kuwait. He is a leading man who uses words and not fists - to a large extent - to get work done. In Raja Krishna Menon’s film, one man with a little help of the others turns a knight in suited armour. Overall, ‘Airlift’ is a good film, solidly plotted, well executed and well-acted.