So, Airlift has one of Akshay Kumar's best performances - along with other sterling acts. Rich Indian-origin businessman Ranjit Katyal (Akshay) loves profits and dislikes the idea of India. But Ranjit's golden life in the desert crumbles when Iraqi forces invade Kuwait. Suddenly, people are savagely shot in the streets, houses looted, buildings blown up, tanks taking over, choppers hovering maliciously amidst minarets.

Raja Krishna Menon brings Akshay Kumar back onscreen as Ranjit Katiyal with Airlift - a film based on India's massive evacuation of its citizens from Kuwait in 1990. The film's narrative begins on the D-day - August 1, 1990 when Iraq president Saddam Hussein attacked Kuwait. Ranjit, a business tycoon, has closed a few deals, bought one of the most-sought after palaces in town and trumped a friend-cum-business rival. He can't wait to get home to celebrate. The same night, Iraqi forces attack the city and are running a riot.

Akshay Kumar started off as an action-hero, graduated to comedy and then started wowing his fans with his dramatic roles and the Khiladi has been scoring brownie points with every movie that he has made. After films like Special 26, Baby and Brothers, which allowed Akki to display his acting chops, Kumar comes up with another winner in Airlift, a film based on the biggest evacuation operation in the world.

After BABY, Akshay Kumar delivers yet another thriller with deadpan calm. Here too, a flight takes off at the end, but there's no drama at the take-off like in Neeraj Pandey's film. Raja Krishna Menon sets his movie in 1990 in Kuwait, when Iraq invaded the country. Lakhs of Indians were affected as the Iraqi soldiers spilled Kuwaiti blood on the streets. Menon introduces the character of Ranjit Katiyal (Akshay Kumar) as this hard-nosed businessman who only looks at the profit in the balance sheet.

For your money and time, Akshay Kumar is the most watchable star in Bollywood today. See Airlift, you will know why. Unlike the other superstars his growth is constant. Every film - and I include his steady stream of comedy films - finds him touching base with new depths of emotions within himself. In Airlift, he plays Ranjit Katyal, the unsung, unknown hero who masterminded the evacuation of thousands of Indians stranded in Kuwait in August 1990 when Saddam Hussain's army decided to take over. Akshay delivers a performance that is subtle and skilled.

'Airlift' is based on an episode that Indians would be proud to be associated with - the largest human evacuation in history, when the Indian government in 1990 managed to airlift about one and half lakh Indians from Kuwait as it turned into a war zone following Iraq's invasion. The film, directed by Raja Krishna Menon, takes us back to the horrid phase when Saddam Hussein-led Iraqi soldiers killed, looted and created havoc in Kuwait and it was up to the Indian government and a few influential Indians there to steer their stranded countrymen to the safety of their home country.

After giving his fans a delightful 'Baby' last year, the man on a mission, Akshay Kumar is back on the silver screens with his major treat called 'Airlift'. The film which is rightly titled so, will definitely ignite your patriotic passion for the country, if not anything else. Directed by Raja Krishna Menon, 'Airlift' tracks the world's biggest civil evacuation operation in history. Akshay as Ranjit Katyal is the anchor of this ship called 'Indians' who need to sail smooth ashore. The film shows how exactly the Indians in Kuwait were evacuated or rather 'airlifted' safely after Saddam Hussein led Iraq war.

It is August, 1990. Kuwait-based Indian businessman Ranjit Katyal (Akshay Kumar) is awoken rudely from slumber by the news that Iraqi forces have attacked the city. It is the sort of awakening that shakes loose Katyal from his cocooned wealthy life, which he shares with his wife Amrita (Nimrat Kaur) and young daughter, forcing him to deal with a series of dangerous situations, and leading to the evacuation of more than a lakh Indians stuck between Saddam Hussain's brutal forces and an alarmingly slow-to-take-heed Indian state.

Once in a while, Bollywood reminds you why it can never be written off. That no matter how many commercial, trashy films it bombards us all with, there are times it can rise to the occasion. Like its hero Ranjit Katiyal, Airlift helps Bollywood airlift itself out of the mess it normally resides in. Raja Krishna Menon's Airlift is a tale of heroism, courage, patriotism, and a lot more. And deserves a standing ovation.

Hindi cinema history tells us that mainstream storytellers in Bollywood face many a pitfall when they work with real-life stories. They frequently succumb to the temptation to inject exaggerated drama into the narrative. In the bargain, they end up tumbling with a thud between two stools. Neither is it easy for their ilk to handle a tale of heroism aimed at highlighting what "we Indians" can achieve when we all deign to pull in the same direction.

Films about genuinely unsung heroes are a fine thing, and Raja Krishna Menon's Airlift is a sincere effort to celebrate an insanely daunting task. In 1990, during the first Gulf War, over 170,000 Indians were stranded in Kuwait when it was attacked by Iraq. A few local businessmen and Indian diplomats took on the valiant, significantly uphill task of bringing those people home.

Is Akshay Kumar Bollywood's answer to Ben Affleck ? Well, going by the choices he's making, clearly the actor's Khiladi Kumar days seem over. Well, Airlift is no Argo, and thank god for that, who wants to watch a washed down version of a successful and critically acclaimed Hollywood film? In fact Airlift revolves around a situation and crises that is ten times dire and worse than the one in Argo.

'Kaun kahta hai aasmaan mein chhed ho nahin sakta Ek paththar to tabiyat se uchhalo yaaron' To all those who look down upon Bollywood movies and snigger that they can never match up to the best of the West, the wait is over. AIRLIFT is here to make your cinematic spirits fly. Literally. Hats off to Bhushan Kumar of T Series, Nikhil Advani, Vikram Malhotra and Akshay Kumar for backing a film that deserves to be seen by every Indian and yes the world is waiting to salute the biggest and most historic air evacuation in the world history.