‘Neerja’ Movie Review – Sonam Kapoor was born to play Neerja!

Directed by: Ram Madhvani
Produced by: Atul Kasbekar, Shanti Sivaram Maini and Fox Star Studios
Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Shabana Azmi, Yogendra Tiku, Shekhar Ravjiani, Kavi Shastri, Sadh Orhan
Duration: 2 hours 02 minute
Bollywood Bubble Rating: 4/5

Every person is born ordinary, no one is great unless you face some hard challenges in life. Such was an unexpected situation which came in front of late flight attendant Neerja Bhanot who sacrificed her own life to save lives of 359 people. This event unleashed a legend inside an ordinary girl and left a deserving story to be told to everyone. So was Ram Madhvani’s ‘Neerja‘ able to narrate the journey of late Neerja Bhanot? The answer is YES!

The plot begins from Bombay where we see a fun loving Neerja Bhanot, a die hard fan of superstar Rajesh Khanna and the most loving child of her doting parents Harish and Rama Bhanot. Neerja is appointed as the head cabin crew of Pan Am Flight 73 which is going to fly to the Frankfurt from Mumbai. During a scheduled halt at Karachi Airport, four armed men enter the aircraft. They represent a terrorist group funded by Libya and are targeting to threaten the American passengers on board with reasons pertaining to global diplomacy. Being someone who lives by principles in life, she just remembers her father’s advice that maintain your courage and never commit or tolerate injustice. Will Neerja win over fear? How will she be manage to protect the passengers against armed terrorists? All answers lie in the movie ‘Neerja.’

The movie has been written by Saiwyn Quadras whose screenplay is very engaging and brilliant. The dialogues by Sanyukhta Chawla Shaikh are very well done and its impact just leaves a lump in your throat while leaving the theaters.

The film is directed by Ram Madhvani a prominent name in the world of advertising. This is his second feature film after ‘Let’s Talk’ which had released in 2002. The director had a huge responsibility on him to present this story in the correct way possible to connect with this modern generation and he has done it superbly.

Coming to the star cast of the movie, Sonam Kapoor has proved that if she is given a potential role to perform, she has the ability to nail it with a power packed performance like this. She was born to play Neerja Bhanot. It is one of the most commendable scenes of the film where after witnessing a murder in front of her she just locks herself up in the restroom and breaks down. Veteran artist Shabana Azmi plays Rama Bhanot, the mother of Neerja. She has performed her part aptly. Her scenes with Sonam Kapoor carry the warmth of the relationship we share with our parents especially mothers and the most important sequence in the movie is her monologue where no one could escape tears rolling down their cheeks. Composer Shekhar Ravjiani shines in his small part cameo as Jaideep, Neerja’s boyfriend. There’s a special mention to actor Jim Sarabh, who plays one of the terrorist characters named Khalil, the menacing power of this character is very crucial to the plot and this actor has just left no scope to criticize his performance. He is path breaking.

The music of the film is composed wonderfully by Vishal Khurana with equally touching and effective lyrics penned by Prasoon Joshi. All songs are placed in correct situations causing no halt to content and flow of the movie.

The most highlighting factor of this movie is the technical team. The cinematography of Mitesh Mirchandani just sets the correct mood maintaining the panic which is going around on the plane. The editing of Monisha R Baldawa is crisp and fantastic. Background music by Vishal Khurana keeps you held in the intense scenes. Special mention should go to Balram Shankar the art director who has created such an authentic set which perfectly resembles an original flight.

There are very few movies which come with the quality of inspiring and fighting the fear inside you. ‘Neerja’ is among them.

A must watch for everyone.