IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack

Imagine a situation when a short duration flight becomes a 8 day nightmare, because of dangerous hijackers. Lives of everyone associated with us, directly or indirectly, would get impacted. This six episode webseries recreates a true incident of a plane hijack from December 1999. A pack of terrorists manage to smuggle arms into Air India flight no. IC 814 from Kathmandu to Delhi, in a bid to free their fellow criminals who had been captured by Indian soldiers. The events are portrayed in a realistic manner.. how the terrorists hold the team of pilots at gun point and force them to follow their instructions. The terrified passengers are also subjected to lot of difficulty with overflowing toilets, limited food and water – two passengers are even injured seriously.

On learning of about limited fuel availability, the terrorists are forced to allow the flight to land at various cities. While senior Government officials of various agencies take critical decisions, newspaper and TV channels cover this incident with passion.

The casting is done very well, along with their makeup. Every scene looks realistic. Vijay Varma looks dapper as Captain Sharan Dev. Dia Mirza is almost unrecognizable as a senior media professional, whereas Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapoor, Arvind Swamy, Kanwaljit Singh and others have done justice to their roles. 

Image courtesy: Google

Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue

Working in mines has never been safe, being full of risks of both health and also disasters such as fire. In the instant case, which is a real-life story, ground water breaks in from the ceiling of a mine in Raniganj, due to irresponsible flouting of safety norms. Some miners manage to scramble out, whereas 71 are trapped inside. Here comes in Jaswant Singh Gill (Akshay Kumar), a trained rescue officer, but new to the area. The story is about his rising to the occasion, commitment to the task, sheer grit and bravery to overcome all challenges to save the miners. Full of hope, but short on time, Gill identifies people suited to the job but faces lack of cooperation from Sen, who is a local guy, who is burdened with personal agenda. 

This movie is a good time pass watch, but there is no visual treat waiting for you. The story demands most of the movie to be shot inside the partially inundated mine, and rest around it. Some scenes appear dismally done, where the back and fore grounds appear pasted later. Modern techniques have raised the bar of graphic quality and those shots feel like misfits.

Another point to be noted is the character played by Ravi Kishan – that of a pessimistic miners stuck in the mine. With so many successful ventures behind him, I thought it was very nice of him to say yes to a role which is not in the front line. Parineeti Chopra too has a small role, and looks good as Gill’s wife.

Image courtesy: Google

Pippa

After having watched a handful of commercial movies, I chanced upon this film on Amazon Prime. I am usually someone who would avoid films centering around army, because I think there is too much bloodshed. That reason did not stand in the way as I got drawn by the innocent smile of Ishaan Khatter. With his chocolate boy looks, I was sceptical about how he would fit into a serious role – and has he pulled out a surprise for me!

He plays the role of the youngest son of a family of military men – his late father and elder brother were in the army, and he got drawn into the forces by them. He was the commander of an amphibious tanker, one which could operate both on land and swim in water, but gets posted to clerical duty as he defies orders of his senior officers. In the meantime, his elder brother is sent on a secret mission to Bangladesh, but gets captured by Pakistani forces. Ishaan is called to duty – to modify design of tanks to accommodate four persons and make it worthy for deployment in war. In recognition of the hard work put in by him, he gets to join the war. His sister, played by Mrunal Thakur, gets to know about capturing of their elder brother and informs Ishaan. He takes it as a personal responsibility and fights bravely not only to rescue his brother, but defeat Pakistani army and contribute in the independence of Bangladesh.

This is a real life story and has been narrated very well with realistic feel – blood, torture, bullets…and more. The movie is worth much more recognition than it has got so far.

Image courtesy: Google