10 Years of Airlift EXCLUSIVE: Raja Krishna Menon says, “Irrfan Khan was my first choice but he told me, ‘With me, you’ll not get money to make anything close to your vision’”; also reveals how 400 extras were sent in a loop to fake a 1.5 lakh crowd 10 : Bollywood News

The gripping rescue drama, Airlift (2016), completed 10 years on January 22. Starring Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur, the film chronicled the evacuation of Kuwait-based Indians at the onset of the Gulf War. Airlift was not a typical commercial entertainer, and yet, due to the sheer power of its storytelling, music, and Akshay’s star presence, it managed to be a hit and even cross the Rs. 100 crore club. In an exclusive interview with Bollywood Hungama, director Raja Krishna Menon took a trip down memory lane and shared fascinating trivia about the film, as well as other insights.

10 Years of Airlift EXCLUSIVE: Raja Krishna Menon says, “Irrfan Khan was my first choice but he told me, ‘With me, you’ll not get money to make anything close to your vision’”; also reveals how 400 extras were sent in a loop to fake a 1.5 lakh crowdEarlier, you made Bas Yun Hi (2003) and Barah Aana (2009); both were indie films, while Airlift was in a different space. What made you realize that this would be the right subject for your third film?
In 2003, that is, 13 years before the release, I came across the story of the film. I was discussing something and someone brought this incident up. I am from Kerala and hence, I knew that Saddam had attacked Kuwait and that Indians were stuck out there. However, I did not know about the involvement of Air India and the government of India and that it was such a huge operation. If this was a story about Americans being evacuated, there would have been 5 Hollywood films made on this story! Since it got missed by the Indian filmmakers, I started writing it, researching and meeting people. While working on the script, I realized that it’s not made because it is too ambitious. Also, in the early 2000s, it was anyway hard to put together a film.

But I did know that this film would be a celebration of India as a country and I continue to believe that it is one of our greatest achievements. Anyway, looking at the challenges, I wrote it thinking that it would never get made (laughs). Fortunately, it did get made, many years later.

Did you always have Akshay Kumar in your mind for the lead role of Ranjit Katyal?
No. Initially, I didn’t have anybody in mind as I was just writing it. I was a small indie guy while stars like Akshay were quite out of my reach. I didn’t even know how to approach them.

The first actor I approached was Irrfan Khan. It happened through producer Nikkhil Advani. I met Nikkhil as I was told that he was looking for fresh ideas. I met and pitched him a subject. He heard it and said, ‘Why do you want to make a film on this subject? It doesn’t sound like you. Do you have something that nobody would make?’. I replied, ‘I have something that I’ll guarantee you’ll not make’! He asked me for details. I told him that it was a story on the biggest evacuation in the history of mankind. He replied, ‘How come I don’t know about this incident, especially when India did it?’. I sent him the details. He went through it and insisted that we should make a film on the idea.

I didn’t believe him kyunki industry ke log bahut baat karte hain aise. Then he brought Vikram Malhotra, who was starting out as a producer, on board. He was also excited about the project. This is when it struck me that it was possible for the film to be made.

This is how we met Irrfan. But he told me, ‘Raja, it’s a great script, but your vision is Hollywood. But with me, you’ll not get money to make anything close to your vision’. At that time, I thought Irrfan was saying so as he didn’t want to do the film (laughs). However, Nikkhil also suggested that I should approach an A-lister. He and Vikram met Akshay for some other project. During that narration, Akshay asked if they had any different and exciting scripts. That’s when they told them about Airlift. He asked for a narration. Nikkhil told me, ‘I know you are considering Irrfan, but please meet Akshay’. I was unsure as I wondered why would any big Bollywood star work with me? I was a bit scared and uncomfortable.

Nevertheless, I met him. 40 minutes into the narration, he told me, ‘Chalo, banate hai picture’. I couldn’t believe my luck!

Every actor in Airlift has done a great job, be it Nimrat Kaur, Inaamulhaq, Purab Kohli, Feryna Wazheir, Kumud Mishra, Ninad Kamat, etc. But the one actor who stood out was Prakash Belawadi, who played the role of George. Maybe his best performance, if not one of the best. He got on our nerves. I remember in my show, there were claps when Nimrat’s character, Amrita, blasts him in the scene immediately after the intermission…
I think so too. It was a pleasure working with him. I wanted somebody from the South for that role. I haven’t told this to anybody – I was actually in talks with the great Malayalam actor Sreenivasan. I went to Kochi and we met. He didn’t know Hindi at all. Yet, he learned the lines and did an audition for me. Sadly, the dates didn’t work out.

Meanwhile, someone suggested Prakash Belawadi. I had seen his work in Madras Café (2013). He read the script, called me and insisted that he wanted to do the part for sure. He had such a fine understanding of the character and got into its skin. He was so irritating, wasn’t he? (laughs)

How many days did you shoot and how many extras were there?
We shot the film in just 49 days as we had only that much money! As for the extras, there was this scene where Indians are arriving at a school to live in a makeshift camp. During the real-life incident, there were 1.50 lakh people stuck in that camp. We wanted 1500 extras, but we could afford only 400. So, my first AD Udai Singh Pawar made this whole plan that all of them would exit from one side of the frame, go around the building and then again come back from the other side of the frame! So, it’s the same number of people who were going round and round. Udai also made a map to explain the movement. He was a very smart guy from IIT. Thanks to him, a crowd of 400 people looked like a crowd of 4,000!

Airlift is also remembered for its soundtrack. Were songs always a part of the film or were they added later on?
Songs were always a part of it. I love songs and am all for it in a film, as long as it moves the narrative forward. At that time, there was a song ‘Didi’ by Khaled which had become very famous. We tried to speak to Khaled, but he had become old. So, it was not possible for him to compose the song, that too 25-30 years after the release of the original track. Then, Amaal Mallik came on board and he composed ‘Dil Cheez Tujhe Dedi’. As for the final song ‘Tu Bhoola Jise’, it was an anthem and we were sure that we wanted it. Also, I wanted KK on board. He has sung in all of my films; he was one of my closest friends. We started our careers together. I wanted him badly to sing a song in Airlift and I thought that ‘Tu Bhoola Jise’ was the perfect song for him. Amaal was excited as he wanted to work with KK.

The scene, where the tricolour is lifted at the Amman airport, led to a frenzy in cinemas. Even today, we got goosebumps seeing that scene…
(Smiles) We were not even sure if we wanted to put that shot in the film. We were wondering, ‘Does it feel right to do so?’, ‘Would people think as to why is the flag suddenly coming up at Amman airport?’ (laughs). But we decided to keep it as emotionally, it was working big time.

Airlift surprised the trade and industry. Despite not being a different kind of entertainer, it went on to collect Rs. 128.10 crores. This film began the streak of successful films for Akshay Kumar. Were you surprised by the numbers?
I was, as I came from the indie world. So, I didn’t even know what Rs. 100 crore meant. To be honest, somewhere I always knew that the story would connect with people. I didn’t think of the collections.

Hemanti Sarkar fabulously edited the film. Thanks to him, the narrative was relentless. Debasish Mishra did a great job on sound design. Kudos to DOP Priya Seth. I still feel that it is still one of the most uniquely shot films. Arijit Dutta provided a strong background score. All these factors made me confident about it. Moreover, I did not know how hard it was to make a Rs. 100 crore film. So, I never had that pressure.

After the release of the people, did you meet people who were actually airlifted during that time?
I met lots of such people. I interacted with a bunch of nurses who saw the film and told me, ‘This is exactly how it happened’. A number of people told me that they felt that they were transported to Kuwait of 1990 while watching Airlift. And of course, during research, I met several people who were airlifted, including Mr Mathunny Mathews, who’s no more. He was a lovely person.

Any plans to make Airlift 2?
I guess it’ll be very exciting to tell another story. It may not be about airlifting people. However, the idea of home has become very important in today’s times, looking at the state of the world. That somebody is there to protect you is a feeling that is strongest in the present day and age.

Sadly, conflicts have increased across the world and it’s common to see Indians being rescued and brought back from war zones…
Absolutely. Look at the amount of displacement it does. We only read about it in the papers, but we can never imagine what they go through. Hence, I feel this is the right time to talk about it. And in case Akshay also wants to do it, then that would be great to reunite with him after 10 years (smiles).

Are you working on anything right now?
I am working on a script which is almost ready. It is set in a different genre from what I normally do. We are meeting actors. Hence, it’s very early to talk about it.

More Pages: Airlift Box Office Collection , Airlift Movie Review

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