Kapoor has always been lauded for her script and role choices but they seldom dovetailed into a memorable performance. Sonam Kapoor as Neerja is a casting master stroke and she comes up with her career best. Neerja owes a lot to its performances, from Azmi’s to Tiku’s to Sonam Kapoor. Much like his daughter who’s taken after him. A flight that originated from India has been hijacked and he has a duty to perform. He wants to complete an article at 1 am).
We wonder why he never joins his wife at home to give her courage, to comfort her but then we realize he is in the media (A job he loves. Tiku played the role of a dispirited father to another titular character - in No One Killed Jessica. It is also due to the way Madhvani weaves the familial ties between Neerja, her mother, and father played by Yogendra Tiku. Madhvani wants us to know that Neerja’s actions in the flight are informed by her experience in an abusive marriage in the recent past. Yet we root for her and that’s Neerja’s greatest achievement. There is a little too much portending during these parts but it could be a function of the Neerja Bhanot exposure in the run up to this film. We see how she can take over the reins in the society party that she single-handedly livens up and how much she loves her job. Madhvani opts for a cold opening that takes us through the preparation of the terrorists juxtaposed with the bundle of energy that Neerja is. It’s particularly charming how she has a Khanna quote for every situation (several from Anand, there is one from Safar) and this is even more incredibly moving when her mother Rama (Shabana Azmi, as reliable as ever) uses one towards the end. A cinema loving teenager in the 70s, no wonder she is a Rajesh Khanna fangirl. When we first see Neerja, she quotes Rajesh Khanna’s most famous dialogue from Anand - zindagi badi honi chahiye lambi nahi. The handheld camera is shaky and we see people in the background, the passengers, physically and mentally shaken. He tracks movements through the aisles, across seats, from and into the galleys. Here it is worse - the flight is hijacked soon after landing in Karachi. It’s a flight that is stationary on the runway and it cannot get more claustrophobic - imagine a flight getting delayed after boarding. Sometimes Madhvani shows Neerja Bhanot (Sonam Kapoor) in the foreground, grappling with the situation she’s thrust into and the terrorists in the background, and sometimes it is the opposite. There are multiple things happening in every frame of Neerja, particularly those in the insides of an airplane. It may have to do with his illustrious career as an ad filmmaker but Neerja tells you how much Madhvani can accomplish with limited space. And claustrophobia plays a huge part in Ram Madhvani’s Neerja. We know what the 300 odd people in the flight are in for. Neerja Bhanot (Sonam Kapoor), the head purser of Pan Am Flight 73 too speaks those words and it takes a poignant turn hearing it from her. They are discomfiting, vitals altering, the food is bad, you are practically tied to a chair for long hours and it gets claustrophobic. In a voice that is absolute voice of death. As soon as we board a flight, we are told in a pretend warm tone to “enjoy the flight”.