O Poder da Coragem

Hollywood filmmakers could learn a few things from filmmakers in India when it comes to making a movie about a true story. The drama "Neerja" (NR, 2:02), about one of India's national heroes, is a prime example of that. This story needed no embellishments, and screenwriters Saiwyn Quadras and Sanyukta Shaikh Chawla along with Ram Madhvani, directing only his second feature film, clearly understand that. No typical Hollywood phrases like "inspired by a true story" or "based on true events" were needed. These Indian filmmakers respected history enough to tell this story as it actually happened, accurate in the film's major plot points and its relatively minor details. Hollywood, THIS is how you tell a true story.

Neerja Bhanot (Sonam Kapoor) is a 22-year-old flight attendant, about to celebrate her 23rd birthday. She's a happy and vibrant young woman, as we see during a birthday party early in the film. We also notice how beautiful Neerja is. She was a model, but her emotionally abusive husband pressured her to quit so she could spend more time and energy tending to his needs. Eventually, Neerja made the socially difficult decision to get a divorce. She then went to work for Pan Am Airlines. Neerja's mother, Rama (Shabana Azmi) asks her to leave the airline and go back to modeling. "I like my job," is Neerja's reply. So, in the early morning hours of September 5, 1986, Neerja drags herself out of bed and gets ready to go work a flight from Mumbai to New York, by way of Karachi, Pakistan and Frankfurt, Germany. Her boyfriend, Jaideep (Shekhar Ravjiani) shows up at her parents' house to drive Neerja to the airport. He hands her an early birthday gift and makes her promise not to open it until her birthday, two days later.

This is a big day for Neerja. It's her first time being a lead flight attendant, a promotion which turns out to be very fortunate for the passengers and crew of Pan Am Flight 73. When the plane lands in Karachi to pick up more passengers for the next leg of its scheduled flight, four of those passengers turn out to be terrorists with the Abu Nidal Organization. As they begin to take control of the plane (which is still on the ground), Neerja quickly warns the flight crew, who at first hesitate, but then follow protocol and abandon the cockpit so they can't be forced to fly the plane. The hijackers demand that new pilots be sent to the plane, but are forced into lengthy negotiations with Pakistani authorities. Throughout the ordeal, Neerja helps her fellow flight attendants keep calm and leads them in taking care of the passengers as well as possible. As the standoff between the terrorists and airport officials drags on, we periodically see short flashbacks of Neerja's past, showing us who she is as a person, how she got to this point in her life and why she's able to remain strong in such extraordinary circumstances. On the plane, we see Neerja continually insist on being the one to deal with the terrorists personally. In doing so, she puts her own life at risk – increasingly so when she secretly works against them and as the terrorists become more and more agitated until this true story reaches its dramatic and shocking conclusion.

From an American perspective, "Neerja" is a combination of 2006's "United 93" and 2013's "Captain Phillips", but it's even more remarkable when you realize that what Neerja accomplished was through her own singular strength of character and force of will and with the help of only a handful of similarly brave flight attendants. The first few scenes of the film and the flashbacks that we see during the hijacking are well-placed and, more importantly, provide excellent character development which makes the audience feel that they are really starting to get to know Neerja as a person. The acting is excellent and the film is well-paced and not exploitive in any way. Neerja isn't shown as a super woman – just a virtuous and determined one. The hijackers aren't being shown in order to make any political point – only because they were violent men who did terrible things. The ending isn't there to make the film overly emotional – just true and factual. (Hollywood filmmakers, are you paying attention?) The great thing about this film for westerners is, for most of us, the story is fresh and new. Yes, the movie is in Hindi with English subtitles, but English-speaking Movie Fans who are open-minded enough to give a "foreign film" a shot will be richly rewarded. More than "just" a story about a famous young Indian woman, this story involves Americans in a significant way, and, even if it didn't, Neerja's heroism knows no nationality. Her actions represented humanity at its finest and should be a lesson to all of us. I'm very thankful that the Indian filmmakers responsible for this movie had the talent and the integrity to tell the story so well and so truthfully. Neerja deserves no less and audiences need no more. "A+"

It doesn't always happen in bollywood that a movie stays right on track till the very end. Usually, the ill-fitted humor or obtruded songs take the starch out of the story line. I found that problem with airlift!

But this movie is almost free from all such distractions and the director has been very disciplined. Shabana Aazmi has stolen the show with her immaculate acting. I was quite skeptical about Sonam Kapoor's acting capabilities in a movie backed by such a strong script, but thankfully no emotional scenes have been imposed on her and her aptness has been used very smartly by the director!

'Aisa Kyun Maa' song is quite emotional and beautifully spun into the fabric of the movie.

Without being a fan, I've seen some Bollywood films in the past few months. Not bad at all. But, this is by far the best of them. And, most difficult to achieve as a genre, thriller with a big plane hijack. True story. Very touching. I almost cried. And I'm not a guy who cries easily. Bollywood filmmakers are experts in tearjerker stories and they have a long tradition in melodrama(remember Raj Kapoor?) But, this is not, as usual, a fiction story, this is truth, it happened for real in 1986. Sonam Kapoor is very good in the title role, Neerja Bhanot, the heroine of the Pan Am flight 73. Then the actors interpreting the terrorists, they are all very natural and convincing, you feel like living that hijack, assisting those real terrorists in full action in front of you. Shabana Azmi, impressive as the mother of Neerja. There have been many movies, most of them made in USA, with the same subject, airplane hijacking: "Ransom" (1975), "Raid on Entebbe" (1977), "Airport" 77 "(1977), "Passenger 57 "(1992), " Con Air "(1997), " Air Force One "(1997), to name just a few. This one is better than all. It made me think also at "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975), directed by Sidney Lumet. Last but not least, Jim Sarbh, the actor who plays the terrorist Khalil, not only physically resembles very well Gian Maria Volonté in "For a Few Dollars More" (1965), but has something of his style of acting and his personality. One last thing, the real Neerja Bhanot, who gave her life to save 359 passengers, was also a model and, except for her inner beauty, was of a great outer beauty.

Life has to be bigger not longer! The film, Neerja is a portrayal on the life of the courageous Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while protecting the lives of 359 passengers in 1986. The flight was hijacked by a terrorist organization in Karachi. How she bravely handled the situation is what the film has been made on.

Director is the real hero of this movie. Ram Madhvani describes every part, every scene of the film very wonderfully. Along with the writers, he is not giving outside of the track and thus, this film is a gem of 2016! Shabana Azmi has done a fantabulous job in the character of Neerja's mother. Though, she has not much dialogues, but her expressions show her emotions, and they are very real that everyone was crying literally. When she gave a speech on Neerja in the end, I was not able to control my emotions. Tears were flowing continuously. She will be the winner of best supporting actress in the major award ceremony undoubtedly.

Sonam Kapoor has given career best performance. She could've been portrayed her well. But, whatever she has given is acceptable. Yogendra Tikku as Neerja's father and Shekhar as Neerja's friend are good and suitable. The man who portrayed Khalil, the angriest terrorist, has done a fantastic job. He looks like a pure terrorist. Others are good, too.

Music is given by Vishal Khurana and lyrics has been penned by Prasoon Joshi. All the songs are listenable again and again. Background score is also suitable and helps to build the terror as well as the excitement.

Connection with Rajesh Khanna, Neerja's past describing her marriage issue, her father's advises, her handling of the passengers, her smartness of not taking the U.S. citizens' passports, her calmness, her love letter written by her lover, her love towards her duty, her sacrifice - everything is just so perfect. I'm no getting over from it. This is probably one of the best films of this year.

I salute you from the bottom of my heart to Neerja Bhanot, the actual one. She has been rewarded Ashok Chakra by the government of India. Though, Airlift was a good one, but, this deserves support from the audience. This is definitely better than Airlift. Please, it's my humble request to all that go and watch out the story of the brave girl, Neerja. Her mother told that Neerja was prettier than Sonam. Yes, the photographs in the end credits give the approval to this statement. A girl, aged 23, lost her life while saving the passengers during her job. Watch it and think that where we reached till now! Massive respect!

NEERJA: This is a Masterpiece, a movie that's going to be kept in the league of classics. It seldom happens that a Director achieves such a finesse in his first major project but Ram Madhvani, who has been directing award winning commercials for over twenty years, defies all conventions giving us an amazing experience that reminds us of the types of Dark Knight. The best thing Ram did is to keep the dialogs in each characters' native language that gives it a feel of real time cinema. The background music creates an ambiance of tension making you feel traveling in the same plane that got hijacked in Karachi in 1986. The cinematography is so real as if you are watching the events happen live. The dark shades ensure that colors don't snatch away the tense mood throughout. The sets, the interiors, the costumes, the make up are so real to recreate the time when this event happened. And above all, it is powerful performances by everyone in the frame that keeps you holding your breathe, that keeps you getting lumps in your throat, that makes your heart beat fast and at some times makes your eyes wet. Sonam Kapoor has unexpectedly given her not only career best performance but also one of the best Bollywood has witnessed over the years. Her body language, costumes, make up, expressions, and slang all look perfectly aligned with what could be expected out of the protagonist. Shabnana Azmi as her mother nails it down with her speech in the end. She proves that art is age defiant and she still can give audience the goosebumps. And the character that despite carrying no stardom yet succeeded to leave a strong impression on my mind is that of the anger dominated terrorist who reminded me about the Joker in The Dark Knight. His intense performance really deserves an applause for it is he who succeeds in making audience feel the terror the victims might have felt in reality. Too good a movie with perfection delivered in every aspect. No way it could have been even a little better than what it is. This one is going to stay a long time in my mind. DEFINITELY A MOVIE NOT TO BE MISSED FOR ANY REASON. RATING 10/10