Was Neerja Bhanot, the airhostess who on 5 September 1986 perished while trying to save lives in a hijacked aircraft, really a Rajesh Khanna fan?In the film version of her life the zany feisty and exceptionally courageous(as we soon discover) Neerja Bhanot is a fanatical Rajesh Khanna fan…Or maybe fanatical is not a word we ought to use , considering…
10 minutes into the film, when we see Neerja dancing to Rajesh Khanna’s By bye miss goodnight from the film Premnagar, I wanted to believe in the reality about Neerja Bhanot that director Ram Madhvani and his ingenius writer Saiwyn Quadras has so diligently and faultlessly put across , immortalizing the memory of the slain braveheart even while giving Indian cinema yet another example of its growing maturity.
Neerja is a film that wears its excellence casually, like a beautifully knit garment thrown on for a stroll in a windy park. Turbulent weather is not quite the problem in this hijack drama(which is not really just that, but a lot , LOT,more). The entire nightmarish drama unfolds on the runway on a grounded aircraft.
The detailing of the PanAm flight is so exact(and full marks to production designer Aparna Sud), I didn’t for as moment feel I was on film set. From the moment the genial Neerja enters the flight(destined to be her last journey) I felt I was travelling with her, and all the crew members and passengers. The fact that we know how this heart-in-the-mouth drama will pan out doesn’t any way diminish our insurmountable anxiety , as four rabid Palestinians(played by impeccably cast actors) take over the flight from which our heroine will never return.
This fore-knowledge actually heightens our involvement and grief.When Neerja says goobye to her parents we know what they don’t.
It is her last goodbye.
As mentioned earlier, this is not a film a straightforward hijack drama. Director Ram Madhvani(returning to filmmaking after 14 years) weaves together some delicately drawn vingnettes from Neerja’s past that recur unobtrusively while the ghastly crisis in the aircraft unfolds.
This is no minor achievement. Normally to have any kind of intrusion while the central crisis unfolds would be inexcusable. Full credit to Madhvani and his editor Monisha Baldawa for interweaving scenes from Neerja’s past while she tries to cope with a crisis that no airline training had prepared her for.Most vividly memories from a bad marriage with a husband pounding his way into her self-esteem and her father(played effectively by Yogendra Tikoo) prodding her on the phone to be a ‘bahaadur bachcha’ , recurs in the aircraft as the terrorists try to break down Neerja’s defences.
This could easily have turned into a cat-and-mouse game between a quartet of heinous villains and an over-smart female hero. The director takes the story to a level far higher than the heightened drama of a terror attack. This is the story of how crises create heroes. It is also about how this film about an unimaginable crisis created a hero called Sonam Kapoor.
Sonam, so far known for her impeccable dress sense, dresses and looks just as beautiful as she is expected to(so please don’t believe all the lies about how a good performance comes after taking off the makeup and the sartorial splendor). Looking every inch a diva (and uncannily like the real life Neera Bhanot) Sonam digs deep into her subconscious to express emotions that perhaps even she didn’t know existed within her. Not a moment of her joy (with her family) and fear(on the aircraft) are faked.
This is the performance where Sonam’s career actually begins. And to have the country’s most brilliant dramatic actress Shabana Azmi play her mother is just so providential. What Shabana has done to the role of Neerja’s mother is beyond the description of the maternal portrait we see in movies. Her eyes lose hope in front of us as the chances of her daughter coming home diminish. Shabana’s speech at her daughter’s first death anniversary will move even the most stone-hearted viewer to tears. There is an earlier sequence where she tells her son to stop crying for Neerja because ,make no mistake, she will return.
Shabana is right. Neerja has returned. This film brings her alive forever. It is the kind of muted homage to a hero that doesn’t blow bugles , eschews flamboyant flourishes and builds a welter of emotions from within the characters’ own subconscious rather than depend on extraneous trappings to simulate sentimentality. The background score by Vishal Khurana is so bare and minimal to be almost invisibly woven into the storytelling. Mitest Mirchandani’s camera looks into the eyes of the crisis fearlessly: the way Prasoon Joshi’s lucid lyrics prescribe.
There is not a single artiste or technician in Neerja who has bummed out on the job. A whole lot compassion and conviction have made a miracle of a movie called Neerja happen.
Ram Madhvani’s Neerja is about a 23-year old Rajesh Khanna fan who goes to her death thinking dialogues from Khanna’s most famous films. In one of the film’s most absurdly poignant scenes a terrorist orders Neerja to sing a song.Fighting back her fear and disgust Sonam Kapoor—who became a Rajesh Khanna fan while shooting for the film—sings Mere sapnon ki rani kab aayegi tu.
In an earlier sequence when Neerja’s boyfriend is accompanying her to the airport he sings the same song for her, tapping the tune out on the steering wheel.But here’s the thing. The irony of this Aradhana chartbuster is that when Rajesh Khanna sang his way into millions of hearts by lip-syncing this Kishore Kumar number composed by R D Burman (credited in Aradhana to RD’s dad S D Burman) his ladylove Sharmila Tagore was not even there to surrender to the sonorous serenade. Sharmila shot separately on a train compartment constructed on a set while Khanna drove on an open jeep with pal Sujit Kumar on the curvaceous roads of Darjeeling singing to an imaginary sapnon ki rani .
Using that song as a melodic leitmotif for the lovers in Neerja separated forever by terrorism makes Mere sapnon ki rani the ultimate counter-romantic song of Indian cinema.
Shabana Azmi who plays Neerja’s mother remembers the impact of the film on Neerja Bhanot’s family. “I was speechless when Neerja’s brothers called me up and wept.It is very heartwarming and proves once again that content is king. I was truly overwhelmed by the accolades because appreciation from one’s peer group is so gratifying. The success is above all for director Ram Madhvani , writers Salwyn and Sanyukta. Sonam, Tikuji(who played Sonam’s father), Jim Sarbh(who played the terrorist) and I were given terrific raw material to which we surrendered with honesty and conviction.Anil Kapoor and Sunita are long-standing friends. I love the fact that our kids are working with each other and also inter-generationally!That’s how the film industry grows even closer together as a family. When as a teenager Sonam expressed her interest in acting Anil was very concerned and sent her to me to give her a reality check and encourage her to go abroad for further studies.Instead I asked her to pursue her dream and do what she wanted!”
Jubilant and and relieved Sonam Kapoor who played Neerja says, “Neerja, India has not forgotten you.You will remain to live amongst us and inspire generations.We will not have Neerja forgotten in the chapters of history and we now know that India has come forth and proved that Neerja’s sacrifice will continue to ignite our path to selfless righteousness.My validation as an actor comes from my director,co-star and from Neerja’s family. For them to say they liked my performance is all the approval I need.Neerja’s brother Aneesh and Akhil called me up.They’ve written spectacular things about me after watching the film.The most beautiful thing about acting is that it allows you to use your emotional memory.I feel fear every day of my life. I used that to play Neerja. Of course I don’t know the fear that Neerja felt on that aircraft. But I looked within myself and I had to play her with grace and dignity. Because everybody we spoke to said she was dignified and graceful.”
Sonam found a kindred spirit in director Ram Madhvani. “This is the first time I’ve worked with a director who believes in the same kind of acting as me.Ram kept saying we were bonded. And it was true.It was internalizing of the emotions. Feeling more than expressing.That’s what Tabu said to me after seeing the film. ‘You’re just there,’ she said.I wasn’t trying to act.I didn’t want to do a scene like I was showing what I could do with it. I didn’t want to take away from the moment, from Neerja. And I didn’t want Sonam Kapoor to be standing there saying those lines.I felt Neerja deserved to be on screen without the actress’ contribution.Every time I was given a flamboyant dialogue I was like, ‘I am not saying that.’ I have to thank the screenwriter Saiwyn Quadras and the dialogue writer Sanyukta Chawla Sheikh for giving me scenes and words that never stuck a false note.It was all about team work. If I didn’t have such wonderful creators my performance would have been mediocre.”
Sonam praised her co-actors in Neerja. “You know, Jim Sarbh who played the most volatile terrorist,he was my main co-star . God, how much he helped me. You are only as good as your co-star and he was so fucking good. The audience hates him. I loved him! He is the kindest and sweetest soul.As for Shabana Azmi ,I actually had only two scenes with her. But the comfort that I shared with her was amazing.I had never worked with her before. She never once made me feel she was THE Shabana Azmi.She was like a colleague and a friend. A lot of actors in her position would be patronizing. Not once did she tell me how to do a scene. That gave me so much confidence. I am very grateful to her for making me so comfortable, for letting me be and do my scenes. I warmed up to her immediately.Not once did I feel intimidated by her.”
Ram Madhvani looks back at Neerja with tremendous fondness. “It could have gone wrong in so many ways. I remember you telling me that I should have shot inside a real plane since most of the hijack drama is set in an aircraft.And since we couldn’t shoot in a real plane you advised me to make sure the set doesn’t look fake. We worked hard on the details. We succeeded. The real Neerja was watching us.”
