Shah Rukh Khan as Raj Randhir Bakshi/KaaliĬhetna Pande as Jenny, Sidhu's girlfriend (Oscar Bhai's sister)Īirlift is a 2016 Indian war thriller film directed by Raja Krishna Menon, and starring Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur. The script, written by Raja Krishna Menon developed the idea after studying the whole incident of the war, and which he subsequently expanded. The film follows Ranjit Katyal (Akshay Kumar), a Kuwait-based businessman, carries out a biggest civil operation of evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the Iraq-Kuwait war carried out during the reign President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. With a budget of ₹30 crore (US$4.4 million), the film premiered worldwide on 22 January 2016. The marketing of the film played an important role in the film's promotion and collaborated with the flight company Air India, who had a major contribution in the evacuation of record-breaking number of Indians during the war.Īirlift was theatrically released on 22 January 2016, with an international premiere being held on 21 January. The film was preceded by high audience and commercial expectations. The film opens in Kuwait, August 1990, with Indian businessman Ranjit Katiyal clinching a business deal with the Emir of Kuwait. Katiyal is a ruthless businessman who will go to any lengths to make a profit. He is successful and well connected in Kuwait and Iraq and calls himself a Kuwaiti and is generally derisive towards Indians. He has a well appointed mansion in Kuwait and makes a happy home with his wife Amrita and little daughter Simu. Late that evening he receives a word that Iraq has attacked Kuwait. He explains that Iraq and Kuwait have had tense relations: Iraq owes a large dollar debt to Kuwait and Saddam has urged the Kuwaiti establishment to reduce oil supply so prices can rise. When Kuwait refused and remained defiant Saddam ordered the attack. At this point Katiyal believes the attack is one of the many minor border skirmishes. He asks Amrita to take the child away to London for a few days until things cool down.
In short order he discovers Iraqi soldiers are overruning Kuwait and plundering the city and indiscriminately targeting and murdering Kuwaiti citizens.
Katiyal and Nair, his Indian driver, drive to the Indian Embassy. They are stopped by angry teenage Iraqi soldiers and when Nair begins pleading in Arabic he is shot dead. The consul, a friend of Katiyal, explains that the Kuwaiti government has fled and Kuwaiti money is now worthless. The 170,000 Indians in Kuwait are now refugees until India decides its policy. Katiyal is pulled out at a checkpost and taken to the Emir palace.