Nimrat Kaur – Was intimidated by Akshay Kumar in Airlift

“Lunchbox” actress Nimrat Kaur, who will be next in “Airlift”, says she was very intimidated to work with a star like Akshay Kumar in her second film itself.

“… I was very intimidated initially before meeting him (Akshay), as I thought he is a huge star. He makes the opposite person comfortable. He is the most wonderful and easiest of people I have met. I have been lucky. It is all the more pleasurable. I have had the most amazing time with him,” she said.

“Airlift” tells the story of a man Ranjit Katyal (played by Akshay), a wealthy and powerful Indian businessman who with the help of the Indian government safely evacuated 170,000 Indians back home.

“It is a dramatic film. It is about the trial and tribulations these people had to face. It is not in one go that this man came up with a plan there were a lot of disappointments so it is constant back and forth,” the 33-year-old actress said.

“People are rendered homeless, jobless, don’t have money… Their identity was lost overnight. Getting basic necessities like food, clothes was a challenge for them. It was mayhem,” she added.

The actress wasn’t aware about this evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during 1990.

“It is amazing that how I did not know about such a big event either. One is fairly aware about what has happened 20 years ago… It is not that long back,” she said

“It is surprising how people don’t know about it including myself. At that time political scenario was different.. This (incident) is infact something that should be spoken about,” she added.

On being asked why it took long for her to do her second film, she said, “I was half a year away for ‘Homeland’ (American teleseries) that took lot of time. Then when I came back sometime it just happens that you are waiting to start some work but script doesn’t come at the right time and what you like doesn’t take off at right time. So it is just a matter of chance that I had a two year gap.”

Scheduled to release on January 22 next year, “Airlift” is directed by Raja Menon.

Inputs by PTI