The story of courageous Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while protecting the lives of 359 passengers on Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986 when it was hijacked by a terrorist organization.The story of courageous Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while protecting the lives of 359 passengers on Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986 when it was hijacked by a terrorist organization.The story of courageous Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while protecting the lives of 359 passengers on Pan Am Flight 73 in 1986 when it was hijacked by a terrorist organization.
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- 43 wins & 37 nominations total
Parthaa Akerkar
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Featured reviews
The story of Neerja Bhanot is one of courage in the face of grave danger. It is a story that needed to be told and should have been told much earlier. Sonam's acting capabilities will surely be silenced by her portrayal of Neerja. But there is room for improvement. Neerja epitomizes professionalism. There are moments in the second half where the plot seems to drag. But the climax is powerful and makes up for that. Very touchy scene in which she reads out a letter by her abusive husband. Azmi, gave a knock-out performance as Bhanot's mother. With hardly any sign of self-indulgence, Sonam gives a solid performance. Good screenplay by Saiwyn Quadras. Excellent direction by Directed Ram Madhvani. Much much better than Mary kom.
"A fact of life we all die. But the positive impact you have on others will be a living legacy. Catherine Pulsifer.
"A fact of life we all die. But the positive impact you have on others will be a living legacy. Catherine Pulsifer.
This movie could not have been a better tribute to Neerja.
Her sacrifice and courageous act should never be forgotten. You feel a sense of pride knowing that she cared about saving as many lives as possible on that day.
The story was well done and I have to applaud the cast, especially Sonam Kapoor and Shabana Azmi, who played their respected roles amazingly.
As a Pakistani, I believe this movie deserves continuous recognition and it is a must watch for everyone to understand why Neerja truly is India's daughter.
Thank you for making this movie!
Her sacrifice and courageous act should never be forgotten. You feel a sense of pride knowing that she cared about saving as many lives as possible on that day.
The story was well done and I have to applaud the cast, especially Sonam Kapoor and Shabana Azmi, who played their respected roles amazingly.
As a Pakistani, I believe this movie deserves continuous recognition and it is a must watch for everyone to understand why Neerja truly is India's daughter.
Thank you for making this movie!
10maulin5
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!
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!
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.
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
Did you know
- TriviaNeerja Bhanot's family charged no money for the rights to the story.
- GoofsIn one shot in 1985 with Neerja and her family having food at 1:23:10, bottles of Kissan tomato sauce and Del Monte are seen, but that label and those bottles didn't exist at the time.
- Quotes
Neerja Bhanot: Do your duty, come what may. Never tolerate any injustice and never compromise on self-respect.
- Crazy creditsDuring the end credits, some stills of real Neerja Bhanot appear.
- ConnectionsFeatured in 62nd Jio Filmfare Awards (2017)
- SoundtracksJeete Hain Chal
Music by Vishal Khurana
Lyrics by Prasoon Joshi
Performed by Kavita Seth, Arun Ingle, Mandar Apte, R.N. Iyer, Archana Gore, Mayuri Patwardhan, Pragati Mukund Joshi, Vishal Khurana
- How long is Neerja?Powered by Alexa
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $2,900,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $1,585,687
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $626,528
- Feb 21, 2016
- Gross worldwide
- $17,618,280
- Runtime2 hours 2 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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