Neerja (2016)

Salute Neerja Bhanot. She is the real icon of peace and kindness. Real bravery actually saw in his character. Actually, the heroism of her life is shown in this movie. her life was full of joy, bravery, kindness, emotion, humanities, and of course heroism. Salute to her and salute her family for such a kindness for humanities.

I liked this movie. The story was good, rigid, concrete and the main punch may be "Based on a true story". I think this is not a biopic or biography movie. The movie just followed the few hours of the on board a Pan Am plane which terrorists had hijacked. The director tried to justify some other emotional attachment (like, her bad relation with her husband, her friend and some parties). Though the story was very good But the director needed to clarify this emotional attachment. These small incomplete things harmed the story's flow. The director unnecessary put some scene of emotion and character development was very poor (Neerja was a model or hostess? Same time or not? Was she divorced? What was the cause of the party at the beginning of the movie? What was the relation with the man who gave her lift to the airport? What was her mother, brothers name and what was her father's occupation?) I am not telling we need A to Z information but lack of information may not gave us the proper delight as a movie. Sometimes I felt the director only concentrated the onboard action and the activities and may forget about the rest of the story of neerja. The acting of lead characters are not satisfactory, music and background score was horrible, lack of information and clarity about the political and authority's activities at that time.

But after all of this, I want to say the movie was good because of the story and again I want to salute Ms. Neerja Bhanot.

Fmovies: 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 for

I am glad that a movie was made(an inspiration) on the life of the late Neerja Bhanot. Frankly, if not for the movie, I'd not have known(like many of us) or be reminded about the brave air hostess or the Pan Am hijacking. So, the effort behind this cinema has to be applauded. Besides releasing this tribute, the noteworthy achievement of the movie has been the construction of the hijacked plane(looks amazingly convincing on screen), the music, the edge of the seat tension and the heartwarming mother-daughter relationship.

Although the film has its share of flaws(including the weak final moments in the plane), it's a work that's to be appreciated for the attempt to show us what it must have been like for a young lady to make split second decisions to save hundreds of lives under extreme circumstances. The movie can provoke you to think how you'd have reacted(as a passenger or staff) in such a situation and if you'd have been as daring or defiant.

Talking about the performances, although Sonam Kapoor got a great role, the greater performance came from Shabana Azmi as her mother. She was simply stellar and probably the highlight of her role is at the end, when she speaks about her daughter. The speech is a heart wringer. Talking about Neerja the character, to essay it is like once in a lifetime opportunity even among the best & brightest in Bollywood(the casting team surely didn't search beyond Bollywood names). Indeed Sonam Kapoor is talented but still very young. They say an actor is only as good as a director who directs him or her and I felt, Sonam could have been guided better especially in some of the do or die, emotionally draining scenes which could have been a struggle even among industry veterans. It was like asking her to do a Picasso or Michaelangelo painting and expect the work to be as good as the original! Even so, given the responsibility & importance of the role, Sonam does exceedingly well but her finest yet as an actor? Maybe but hope to see better. But she has proudly proved here what she is capable of. And now, let me humbly say, the actor who truly steals the show in Neerja is Jim Sarbh as one of the terrorists Khalil. A brilliantly crazy, maniacal performance!

Where did I think the movie is a let down? For one, like I said, the movie makers failed Sonam Kapoor especially in few very difficult to do scenes where she could have been guided better(and also with some of the child actors). And then I was disappointed with how the climax moments in the hijack were shot, specifically the camera angles. I can't tell more really without it being a spoiler. Another scene is when Khalil pins Sonam to the wall demanding for the American passports - that scene too could have been captured better(without me revealing more).

The movie is a one-time watch. Watch it, if you will, to get a glimpse of how extraordinarily daring Neerja Bhanot was.

Neerja fmovies. 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

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.

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!