Flight

Flight
Image source: Google

Ratings: 2.5/5

Duration: 02 Hrs 10 Mins

Language: Hindi

Genre: Action, Thriller

Director: Suraj Joshi

Writer: Babita Ashiwal, Mohit Chadha, Suraj Joshi

Producers: K. Chadda, Mohit Chadha, Babita Ashiwal, Suraj Joshi

Music: Smriti Minocha

Cinematography: Deepak Pandey

Editing: Rahul Mathur

Release Date: 02 April 2021 (India)

Released In: Theaters

Star Cast: Zakir Hussain, Pawan Malhotra, Shibani Bedi, Vivek Vaswani, Mohit Chadha, Farid Currim, Megha Joshi, Dhruvaditya Bhagwanani, Kaizaad Kotwal, Babita Ashiwal, Mohammad S. Hyderabadwala, Karthik, Nilesh Sharma, Dharana Khemraj Sharma, Shrutidhar, Rohit Pant, Amandeep Singh, Avinash Sethi, Karina, Indal Singh, Mohit Rai, Priya Paithankar, Vishal Arya, Kunal Pradhan, Ravi Pandey, Ravi Mathur, Garry, Barkha Pathania, Pritam Singh, Sameer, Rizul, Amit Pathania, Sudhish Kumar, Yogesh Panwar, Mahindra Kelkar, Francessca, Anand Pant, Hardik Thakker, Diana, Evgenia

Plot: The movie ‘Flight’ is about an elaborate scam behind cheap, low-quality aviation parts that a certain company is providing to the industry insiders and, how greed gets the better of human emotions.

It follows the journey of Multi-millionaire Ranveer Malhotra (Mohit Chadha) of Adityaraj Aviation, who faces flak after one of its flight crashes, and several passengers are killed. Just when the business tycoon gets ready to take responsibility for the blunder, which was an offshoot of a major swindle engineered by his own employees, he goes missing.

Ranveer Malhotra leaves for Dubai in his private jet. On the flight, he dozes off. When he wakes up, he is shocked to see the staff dead and things scattered here and there. With no way to reach the cockpit, he realizes something is not going right. How against all the odds, he faces deadly obstacles on a plane to survive, forms the rest of the story.

Review: Writer-director Suraj Joshi’s ‘Flight’ might remind you at times of Vikramaditya Motwane’s Trapped (2017), since for a large part of its duration, the film falls in the ‘survival film’ category, but then it has a different storyline.

The plotline seems to have some elements in common with the infamous Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared in similar circumstances; and is thrown in with some crashes, explosions, and a few one-liners, to have an action-packed film. The only flaw is the poor delivery of the lines and the lack of realism in the special effects.  The VFX work reveals that a lot of elements deserved more careful work. Also, the suspense is diluted by the unnecessary one-liners that are forced into it.

However, ‘Flight’ is backed by a fast-paced screenplay with no dull moments. This, of course, is the basic requirement for films that aim to entertain. The film does take some creative liberties, particularly in the scene where a small blast takes place on board. You would wonder why the burning plane is not spotted by anyone during its long and struggling journey. Nevertheless, often, thrillers tend to slow down a bit in the second half, but not ‘Flight’.

Mohit Chadha as Ranveer Malhotra is suave and a tad bit filmy, yet, in the beginning, you will be charmed by his big persona because he flies in private jets, downs expensive alcohol, and is a smooth-talking businessman donning sharp suits, but it gets repetitive and annoying after a while. He seems obsessed with Bollywood films as Shah Rukh Khan’s boyish appeal and Amitabh Bachchan’s deep-set voice seem to resonate with him the most. Even though he doles out a reasonably alright performance, there is a lot of Shah Rukh Khan influence that one just cannot miss or ignore. At times, you would wonder who would crack jokes in such a super-serious situation.

Veteran actors Zakir Hussain as Raman Khanna (one of the board of directors) and Pawan Malhotra as Balraj Singh (an important member of the company and a close friend of Ranveer’s late father) do their bit to add shades of grey to the film and instill the element of suspense, but with a stodgy script in hand, the otherwise impressive actors fail to make this one a delightful watch.

The background score of any action-thriller is of crucial importance to plot progression but in this case, Smriti Minocha’s music is too deafening and dramatic to blend in with an already insipid story.

Overall, ‘Flight’ circles around the systematic abuse of money and power the aviation-manufacturing industry is allegedly plagued with. But the way the makers have executed it on screen, we would say it should not have left the runway in the first place. So, board at your own risk!