Translating real incident to reel is always a tough job.
Filmmaker Raja Krishna Menon could’t agree more. Menon, who started his research in 2005, finally managed to piece the script together and now, Airlift, starring Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur, is set to release. While Akshay came into the picture much later, the filmmaker does agree that he turned out to be the perfect choice to play a Kuwait-based Indian businessman during the time that Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. My producers were talking to Akshay for some other film that did’t work out for whatever reasons. Luckily for me, most people I narrated the script to were instantly hooked on to the story within a minute.
Akshay happened to hear the script and demanded to know why this role wasn’t being offered to him. Akshay embodies the the character of the leading man perfectly. He is self-made, disciplined and has that gravitas. People want to follow Akshay Kumar and that was something my character needed. He was the perfect choice for the role, Menon explains.