Neerja, Airlift: Real Stories & Pop Patriotism, the New Mantra

‘Airlift’ and ‘Neerja’ have given filmmakers a new formula to work on

Real stories have raked in real profits at the box-office for both Airlift and Neerja 

Post Airlift and Neerja, Bollywood filmmakers who are always on the look out for the ‘secret formula’ which can bring guaranteed box-office returns, have a new reason to shout, “Eureka!”. Stories based on real-life or (to be safe) inspired by real events with a dash of patriotism driven by a real hero is what seems to be winning the audience.

So be it the tale of Ranjit Katyal, a fictional character, thrust into a real event, i.e. the historic evacuation of 1,70,000 Indians from Kuwait or the story of Neerja Bhanot, a real person, involved in a real life attempted hijack, the audience is looking for characters that inspire, stories that provide them with a valve to puff up their chests with some patriotic pride and give them bragging rights of ‘Being Indian’.

Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur in Airlift

Last year Talvar showed us no matter how ‘non-mainstream’ the treatment was, films which delve into a real-life event or controversy, automatically have a readymade audience for them.

However, scripting a story based on real people or a real life incident is like walking on broken glass. You never know when you might get jabbed with a defamation suit or a copyright violation case. Screenplay and dialogue writer, Ritesh Shah, tells me that when ever he pitches a film based on any real life incident, the legal advice from the producer is always to “stay away”.

We saw how Airlift was panned by some because they felt the film did not depict the evacuation authentically. Again with Neerja, we now have former crew members of the ill-fated Pan Am flight commenting on how the film is more fiction than fact.

Sonam Kapoor as Neerja Bhanot

Which is why films that simply glorify a real life, non-political hero are often a safe bet, especially if it’s in the sports arena. Films like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and Mary Kom had it easy that way. The makers already had their protagonists Milkha Singh and Mary Kom by their side, so who’s gonna sue? Unlike the case of The Dirty Picture (inspired by the life of Silk Smitha and dragged to court by her family) or Once Upon a Time in Mumbai (faced a legal tangle by Haji Mastan’s kids) both of which faced legal trouble for their ‘inspiration’.

Post the success of Mary Kom, director Umang Kumar decided to take up another real-life story as his next project, which is Sarbjit, the Indian convicted of being a spy and killed in a Pakistani prison. Will Sarbjit be another Neerja? We’ll find out soon enough but the line of films inspired by real life is a long winding one, populated with biopics on MS Dhoni (Sushant Singh Rajput), Azharuddin (Emraan Hashmi), Sanjay Dutt (Ranbir Kapoor) and Mahavir Phogat (Aamir Khan).

So prepare yourself to be nuked by plenty of melodrama, heroism, the ‘spirit of the individual fighting against all odds’ mantra, injected with some dose of pop patriotism packaged with a label screaming ‘Based On a True Story’ on all these films and more in the coming months.

But we hope these filmmakers also remember that Airlift and Neerja aren’t just about the ‘inspired by a true story’ formula. At the end of the day, they are good stories, engagingly told and well executed which made for compelling viewing. And there lies the secret ingredient.