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Review: ‘Runway 34’: Gripping drama and strong performances make this film soar high

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Series: ‘Runway 34’ (Showing in theatres)

Duration: 148 minutes

Director: Ajay Devgn

Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Ajay Devgn, Rakul Preet Singh, Abhinay Raj Singh, Boman Irani, Sharik Khan, Aakanksha Singh, Angira Dhar

IANS Rating: ****

Ajay Devgn’s ‘Runway 34’, is inspired by a real-life incident and strongly reminiscent of the 2016 released English film ‘Sully: Miracle on the Hudson’. Yet, it is distinct and proves to be a gripping drama pivoting around Captain Vikrant Khanna’s flight from Dubai to Cochin, one rainy night, and how the skilled and experienced pilot saves 150 lives, with his maturity and foresight, preventing an impending aviation disaster, landing in Trivandrum instead, with limited fuel.

An edge-of-the-seat drama, the film keeps you hooked right from the beginning. The flight scenes displaying the fear and anxiety of the petrified passengers are real and palpable. The external flight shots of the aircraft flying amidst thunder and rain are also beautifully executed and appear real. The final landing of the plane in severe turbulence is frighteningly credible.

While the passengers and media term him a hero, Captain Vikrant Khanna faces a strict inquiry for his decision of landing at Trivandrum instead of Bengaluru and even opting for Runway 34 instead of the recommended Runway 16.

The second half of the film with the entry of Amitabh Bachchan as Narayan Vedant, the Investigating Officer, is equally exciting, although it is more of a courtroom drama with the inquiry committee and the pilots being interrogated.

How Captain Vikrant Khanna manages to hold his own against Narayan Vedant, convincing him of his sharp memory and flying skills through a simulated flight, thereby justifying his actions and decisions, forms the crux of this aviation drama.

Ajay Devgan, as the dashing and accomplished Captain Vikrant Khanna essays his character with his characteristic restraint and minimal expressions. He emotes through his eyes, conveying myriad emotions. An astute pilot, who places his passengers’ safety before everything else, a family man but with a fun side to his personality, Ajay Devgn is every bit that pilot.

Amitabh Bachchan as Narayan Vedant expectedly takes centre stage with his flawless oratorical skills and charisma, and towers over everyone else in the inquiry scenes. As always, he is a treat to watch.

Rakul Preet Singh, as Co-pilot Tania Albuquerque delivers what is expected of her, given the limited scope of her character. The scene where she is frightened owing to the bad weather and thinks it is all over is a wee bit incongruous with the perception one has of a pilot.

Boman Irani as Mr Suri, the owner of the Skyline Aviation company, is credible.

The story is narrated in a linear manner, and is fairly straightforward with no element of intrigue or unexpected twists, although the drama quotient is fairly high.

Some parts of the film appear a tad rushed and unconvincing, especially the inquiry by the DGCA officials and the breath analyser tests.

The background music is effective especially in the scene when Captain Vikrant Khanna leaves the airport after the heroic feat.

Overall, ‘Runway 34’ is an interesting film which is a perfect combination of drama and good performances.

Bollywood

When Ajay Devgn talked about his equation with his late father: You think they are stupid

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Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn appeared on the adventure reality show ‘Into The Wild With Bear Grylls’ back in 2021. During the episode, Ajay shared that children see their parents in a different light once they grow up. He added that their perspective especially changes once they have their own children.

Ajay also opened up about his relationship with his late father, Veeru Devgan.

Bear Grylls commenced the conversation by asking Ajay, “You have lost your dad recently.”

“Yes, two years ago,” said Ajay.

“So the last two years must have been very difficult,” Bear Grylls added.

Ajay explained how a person’s understanding of their parents can change as they grow up.

“It’s tough to lose parents, because you don’t care about them till the age of 20 in your life. You think they are stupid. They don’t know anything. You know everything,” he shared.

Ajay added, “Then when you have your own children, then you understand what parents are. They want the best for you. By then, it takes a lot of time to understand this.”

When Bear Grylls asked Ajay what had happened to his father, the ‘Golmaal’ actor said that his father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He added that his father also suffered many physical injuries while working on stunts in his films.

“Yes, he had Alzheimer’s,” Devgn said. “He had a lot of injuries due to stunts,” Ajay told Bear Grylls.

Recalling one particular incident, he added, “Once during the shooting, he had to go across a car, and he had an injury on his head.

Ajay explained that real cars were used for stunt sequences at the time, causing some serious injuries. “Because at that time, they used real glass. Now we use toughened glass. It also hurts. But the real glass hurts a lot.”

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Naseeruddin Shah backs SRFTI students’ protest: BJP trying to frighten future filmmakers

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Veteran actor Naseeruddin Shah extended his support to students of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute who are currently staging an indefinite sit-in after a violent incident on campus recently.

Naseeruddin claimed that the BJP wishes to take revenge on all who do not subscribe to its beliefs and policies, and SRFTI students are the latest targets.

On Saturday, the veteran actor dropped a video on his official handle saying, “Namaskar, adab, I’m Naseeruddin Shah. The BJP, the bloody jhooti party, after its manipulative victory in the Bengal elections, now seems all out for revenge on anyone who does not subscribe to their beliefs and their policies. The latest victims of this vendetta are the students, the aspiring filmmakers of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute. In return for their demand for accountability from the administration, they have been served show cause notices, put under surveillance, threatened and now have even been asked to vacate the hostels.”

Naseeruddin added that BJP wants not just to back and encourage the shameless propaganda in its favour, and it is now hoping either to brainwash or frighten the future filmmakers of this country.

“I can promise you that is not going to happen. These are the young people who in the future will tell us the truth about themselves and about our country and about the state we are in,” he assured.

“I urge all right-minded citizens to support the demands of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute students,” the actor said before ending the clip.

For the unversed, SRFTI students have been staging an indefinite sit-in outside Vice-Chancellor Santosh Ajmera’s office since October 12, demanding his resignation.

Students and members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat (ABGP), an RSS-affiliated consumer awareness group, got into a clash during a programme on September 27.

On October 4, another tussle took place as a protest was organised by the members of the Bangiya Hindu Jagaran Mancha. According to reports, a few protesters attempted to force open the gate of the institute after police stopped them.

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Janhvi Kapoor admits she gained weight after Karan Johar stopped talking to her

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After Salman Khan, Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna, Bollywood actors Janhvi Kapoor and Varun Dhawan will be seen as guests on the third episode of the popular chat show, ‘Koffee with Karan’.

As the makers unveiled the teaser of the forthcoming episode on Saturday, Varun and Janhvi revealed that filmmaker Karan Johar had stopped speaking to them both. The ‘Mili’ actress added that she even ended up gaining weight when the director was not talking to her.

During the teaser, Karan shared the reason of his silent treatment, saying “I was hurt with both of you.”

Janhvi pitched in with, “I gained weight when we stopped talking.”

Accusing KJo of being too dramatic, Varun added, “Karan, you said very dramatic shit. You became Bachchan from K3G: ‘Mein bada hoon, haq hai mera.'”

While it is not clear why the filmmaker stopped talking to both Varun and Janhvi, it seems like all is well between them now.

As a fun twist to the episode, actor Arjun Kapoor joined Varun and Janhvi for the rapid fire round on the show.

As Karan asked Varun, who will he like to take career advice and marriage advice from, he immediately took Arjun’s name.

Additionally, as Janhvi was asked to name one Instagram account that is ‘giving’ all the time, she replied, Ravi Kishan. After that, she also went on to imitate his viral punchline: ‘Money follows my brother!’. Arjun also accompanied his sister.

Sharing the teaser of the next episode of ‘Koffee With Karan’ on his Instagram handle, Karan wrote the caption, “@varundvn & @janhvikapoor on my couch…need I say more? This one was all madness and love + a very special (longstanding) guest. Koffee with Karan Season 9, Episode 3, streaming Wednesday at 7pm, only on The Peacock Hub on JioHotstar.”

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