01-31-2017, 10:06 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-31-2017, 10:12 AM by Drunk Monk.)
The director of Neerja, Ram Madhvani, is planning a web series based on Bodhidharma next, so I figured I'd check out his 2nd film, Neerja, which has received some critical acclaim. Neerja is the 'based on actual events' story of Neerja Bhanot, a the head purser on a Pan Am flight that was hijacked by Abu Nidal terrorists in Karachi back in 1986. She was awarded India's highest honor, the Ashoka Chakra, the youngest person ever to receive this. I remember nothing about this event. The story seemed a bit overdone - a professional model and airline purser who had recently left an abusive marriage steps up to the terrorists, making all the right moves to save hundreds of lives like hiding the Americans and even shielding American children with her body. I made the mistake of wiki-ing this during a slow point, which spoiled the ending. I would have liked this a lot more without that spoiler. As it turned out, wiki validated every plot point. Even the actress portraying Neerja bore a striking resemblance to her. Madhvani was very loyal to the actual event, surprisingly so for any 'based on actual events' film. It gives me hope for this Bodhidharma web series. I was struck on how the terrorists were portrayed just like Hollywood portrays them - there were four: a leader, a crazy one, a reticent one, and the fourth wasn't really characterized. The only difference was that they captured the language differences, so there were communication issues between Arabic and Hindi (everyone speaks American in Hollywood films). I was impressed how Madhvani tied some story elements together, particularly Neerja's failed marriage and the hostage situation, but because it was Bollywood, it was twice as long as it needed to be (Bollywood films average 3 hours plus an intermission).
Shadow boxing the apocalypse
