'Runway 34' falls in the same genre of aviation drama as two other popular films—incidentally, both came out in 2016—Tom Hanks-starrer 'Sully' and Sonam Kapoor’s 'Neerja'.. However, the Ajay Devgn directorial is nothing like either of them.
Both 'Sully' and 'Neerja' were biographical films that skilfully depicted the most dramatic event of their protagonist’s life, all that led to it, and the aftermath. The stories and circumstances of Neerja Bhanot and Chesley Sullenberger were remarkably different from each other but their quick-thinking and preceptive decision-making ended up saving the lives of many a passenger flying with them.
But Runway 34’s Captain Vikram Khanna — played by Ajay Devgn with cocky self-assurance — is different. Though this film is also inspired by true events and Khanna eventually does save the lives of his passengers, he is no regular hero. A little too confident, he relies on math over common sense. He disregards other people’s opinions. He mansplains. He puts a cigarette in his mouth in no-smoking zones. When chided over it, points out that he hasn’t lit it yet, then goes on and does it. That’s exactly the problem with Devgn’s film too. It’s as inconsistent as its main man Khanna and makes as little sense.
Devgn’s third directorial, 'Runway 34' is also besotted with blue, much like his other two films — U Me Aur Hum (2008) and Shivaay (2016). Everything that can possibly be, is washed in blue. But that is the least of Runway 34’s problems. What bogs this film down is lazy writing, sparsely-developed characters, and a palpable lack of geographical and cultural rootedness. The film changes and mentions several locations. You hear Dubai, Trivandrum, Kochi, Mumbai. But barring the poor attempt at speaking Malayalam by one of the on-ground staff members at the Trivandrum airport, you cannot make out where all the off-flight action is taking place. All of it is so sterile, that it could be anywhere, and therefore lands nowhere.
The first half of the film is almost entirely dedicated to the flight between Dubai and Kochi piloted by Khanna and his assistant Tanya Albuquerque, played by an earnest Rakul Preet Singh, and all that goes wrong mid-air. It’s fast-paced, dramatically shot, brimming with tension and conflict. That’s when Runway 34 soars at its highest. The second half introduces Amitabh Bachchan as the formidable investigator Narayan Vedant, asked to probe this chance landing that could very well have turned into a horrid disaster. That’s when the film starts to sink.
We’re told Vedant is the best there is but Runway 34 never makes a compelling case for him. His investigation is stale and drab, bereft of any action or drama — a total 180-degree shift from the momentous first half. To add to it, most of Bachchan’s dialogue is written in Hindi, which few understand. The writers are aware of it. So they make him translate it all into English. It’s laborious and unnecessary. By the time he says shuturmurg (Hindi for ostrich), you no longer care.
Except for him grilling the two pilots, trying to unearth the truth, and send a strong message so no one else dares repeat the same mistake, we know nothing about Vedant. Or Khanna. Or Albuquerque. What, then, is the hope for the others? There’s Boman Irani as the owner of the airline in question, Angira Dhar as his lawyer for Khanna, and Akanksha Singh as Khanna’s wife Samaira. They are given so little to do that it will be unfair to even call them cardboard characters.
Devgn the director has done a better job in this one than Devgn the actor. As the director, he deftly shows the tension mid-air, a testament to his eye for technical detail. The actor, however, leaves you wanting. Barring the one scene in which he apologises to the daughter of the only woman who dies after the landing, he oscillates between playing stoic and arrogant, even when caught in a fatal crisis. In the climactic sequence when his Khanna finally gets some redemption, it is too little too late.
Read other pieces by Sneha Bengani here. First Published: Apr 29, 2022 6:36 PM IST
