January 2016 Bollywood releases
AIRLIFT
Release Date: 22nd January 2016
Language: Hindi (with English Subtitles)
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Nimrat Kaur
Director: Raja Krishna Menon
Producer: Aruna Bhatia
Monisha Advani
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb5xCMbMfZ0
Synopsis: On August 2, 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The city was looted and the general population subjugated and made to suffer great tragedies at the hands of the Iraqi army, including the 1,70,000 Indians who called Kuwait home. All of them had suddenly lost all their money, were homeless and scared for their lives.
It is in this scenario that Ranjit Katyal (Akshay Kumar), a wealthy and powerful Indian businessman, who has always seen himself more Kuwaiti than Indian, realises that he no longer wields any influence on the Iraqis, and that he and his family are in as much danger as anyone else. Ranjit unknowingly becomes the man who all 1,70,000 Indians look up to for getting them out safely from Kuwait, as he cooperates with the Indian government on the largest scale evacuation programme to ever take place.
Airlift is the story of Indians stranded in Kuwait during this traumatic time. A story of how they, with the help of Ranjit Katyal, managed to survive the Iraqi invasion, and against all odds travelled a thousand kilometres across the border into Amman, Jordan. From Amman, 1,70,000 Indians were brought home by the largest and the most successful evacuation ever attempted by any country, in the history of the world. Over 59 days, the Indian government systematically flew over 488 Air India commercial flights into a war zone to evacuate all 1,70,000 Indians and safely bring them back home.
The evacuation was no easy task, as most Indians were not ready to leave everything they had worked for so hard, for so many years. Neither could they, as they did not have valid travel papers as the employers used to hold on to their employee passports once they landed in Kuwait, and those Kuwaiti employers were either dead or had fled by then. However, with the passion and determination of Ranjit and his contacts, the evacuation was successful. Airlift is an uplifting and entertaining edge-of-the-seat thriller and is the story of the biggest ever human evacuation in the history of mankind.
SAALA KHADOOS
Release date: 29th January 2016
Language: Hindi (with English subtitles)
Producer: Raj Kumar Hirani
Lead role: R. Madhavan, Ritika Singh
Supporting Role: Mumtaz Sorcar, Nassar, Radha Ravi, Kaali Venkat
Directed by: Sudha Kongara
Music: Santhosh Narayanan
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZRXsnqcbEs
SYNOPSIS: Adi Tomar had a dream: to win the boxing gold for India.
Instead he languished in a nightmare for a decade: his gloves were spiked during an all important match, blinding him in the arena, and handing the match to his undeserving opponent””a mediocre boxer but a political powerhouse. The culprit was his own coach, Dev Khatri.
Shattered by his loss, and disillusioned by the state of Indian boxing, Adi turned to a life of cynical self-destruction: booze, brothels and bar-fights.
Until loyal friends somehow bring him back to boxing, this time as the coach of the lowly rated Indian women’s boxing team. His outspoken honesty sends jitters through his old adversaries, and he is soon transferred to Chennai””the Siberia of Indian boxing.
But Adi continues to dream: this time for a free-spirited, fiery young woman from the fishing community: Madhi. She has no training, but tons of raw talent. Adi spots in her a champion that could bring India the gold that he was robbed off. All he needs is to train her”¦
But that is the last thing she wants. She loves to pick fights outside the arena, but has no interest in entering it. Having seen her elder sister’s struggles in the field of women’s boxing she is viscerally averse to it. That world is synonymous for her with nepotism, with lascivious men with no interest in boxing and all interest in exploiting the needy female boxers.
Adi must first earn her trust, then tame her impetuosity, and finally make her dream”¦ all this in just nine months before the world championship. And so begins an uneasy partnership between a man who loves his sport and a girl who loves her freedom. Rigor and rebellion, structure and free spirit collide. It is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”¦ and a journey towards an impossible dream.
Short URL: https://indiandownunder.com.au/?p=6090