Hindi cinema history tells us that mainstream storytellers in Bollywood face many a pitfall when they work with real-life stories.
They frequently succumb to the temptation to inject exaggerated drama into the narrative. In the bargain, they end up tumbling with a thud between two stools.
Neither is it easy for their ilk to handle a tale of heroism aimed at highlighting what we Indians can achieve when we all deign to pull in the same direction.
Mumbai filmmakers have all too often turned such accounts into flabby, flag-waving exercises meant only for those who buy into such counterfeit cinematic constructs.
Raja Krishna Menon, writer and director of Airlift, suffers no such mishaps.
His recreation of the harrowing events leading up to one of the most glorious chapters in Indian civil aviation history is marked by moderation and a keen sense of balance.
Menon steers clear of the traps in his way while delivering a sharply written, gripping thriller that rarely, if ever, flags.
This saga of a rescue mission that made it to the Guinness Book of World Records warms the cockles of one’s heart but isn’t jingoistic in the least.
That is a rare quality indeed in a pre-Republic Day release purportedly designed to douse us all with patriotism.
Thanks for reading