Captain vikrant khanna in real life

Runway 34
Captain vikrant khanna in real life

Theatrical release poster

Directed byAjay Devgn
Written bySandeep Kewlani
Aamil Keeyan Khan
Story bySandeep Kewlani
Produced byAjay Devgn
Starring

  • Ajay Devgn
  • Amitabh Bachchan
  • Rakul Preet Singh
  • Boman Irani
  • Angira Dhar

CinematographyAseem Bajaj
Edited byDharmendra Sharma
Music byScore:
Amar Mohile
Songs:
Jasleen Royal

Production
companies

  • Ajay Devgn FFilms
  • Panorama Studios

Distributed by

  • Panorama Studios
  • Yash Raj Films

Release date

  • 29 April 2022

Running time

148 minutes[1]
CountryIndia
LanguageHindi
Budget₹105 crore[2]
Box officeest.₹54 crore[3]

Runway 34 is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language thriller film produced and directed by Ajay Devgn under the Ajay Devgn FFilms banner.[4] The film is inspired by an aviation incident of a Jet Airways flight from Doha to Kochi in 2015.[5] The film stars Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan, and Rakul Preet Singh, with Boman Irani, Angira Dhar and Aakanksha Singh playing pivotal roles.[6]

Runway 34 was released theatrically on 29 April 2022.[7] It received mixed to positive reviews, but under-performed at the box office.[8] It was released for digital streaming on Amazon Prime Video on 24 June 2022.[9]

Plot[edit]

Captain Vikrant Khanna is an accomplished pilot, who is preparing for a flight from Dubai to Cochin. He parties before the flight, and feels tired on boarding it, where his co-pilot is Tanya Albuquerque. Later, a cyclone in Cochin leads to the flight being diverted to Trivandrum on Khanna's suggestion, despite objection from Albuquerque. Albuquerque says that Bengaluru has to be the second option, not Trivandrum, as the latter is near Cochin and has a high chance of having bad weather too. Khanna says that if they divert to Trivandrum, they can attempt a landing there and save fuel. Due to miscommunication, the pilots do not realize that Trivandrum is facing weather worse than Cochin, which reduces the visibility level. Captain Khanna manages to land the flight while closing his eyes, and averts a major disaster.

Prior to an enquiry, a small interrogation takes place, including Khanna's medical test. The instrument, however, is damaged and isn't able to reveal whether or not Khanna is drunk. The enquiry is held regarding the pilots' actions, headed by AAIB Head Narayan Vedant. The enquiry is held mainly because Alma Asthana, an elderly woman who was on the flight and was thesole passenger to trust Khanna with his decision to divert to Trivandrum, had died of a heart attack on her way to the hospital. During the enquiry, a polygraph is conducted on Khanna. Vedant scares Albuquerque with his questions and she mistakenly reveals that Khanna had closed his eyes during landing.

During the next session of the enquiry, Khanna reveals that he has a photographic memory, so he knew what he was doing during landing, even though his eyes were closed as he was imagining everything in his mind. He eventually proves it through a simulated flight with Vedant as his co-pilot. He makes the same movements that he did on the night of the landing, this time wearing an eye cap over his eyes, to assure Vedant that he can land flights without seeing. He is suspended for three months, but is praised for his skill.

Cast[edit]

  • Ajay Devgn as Captain Vikrant Khanna, The captain of Skyline 777[10]
  • Amitabh Bachchan as Narayan Vedant, Head of AAIB[10]
  • Rakul Preet Singh as First Officer Tanya Albuquerque, Vikrant's co-pilot[11]
  • Boman Irani as Nishant Suri, owner of the Skyline Airway company[12]
  • Ajay Shankar as Lijesh Joseph[13]
  • Angira Dhar as Radhika Roy, Vikrant's lawyer[14]
  • Aakanksha Singh as Samaira Khanna, Vikrant's wife[14]
  • Vijay Nikam as Santoshlal Tripathi, Employee at Cochin ATC[15]
  • Aamil Keeyan Khan as Vikram Sukumaran, ATC Trivandrum
  • Flora Jacob as Alma Asthana, the old lady who dies[10]
  • Rukhsana as Delilah Asthana
  • Al-Mamun Al Siyam as Lumin
  • Hrishikesh Pandey as Yusuf Rangoonwala, Head of Pilot's Union
  • Rakesh Bhavsar as Ramiz

Production[edit]

Development[edit]

The film was originally titled Mayday. In November 2021, the name of the upcoming film was changed to Runway 34.[16] The number "34" in the film's title was chosen because that was Ajay's age when his daughter Nysa was born.[17] The film is based on true events, in which a plane from Doha to Kochi crash-landed.[18][19]

Filming[edit]

The official announcement of the film was made on 7 November 2020[20] and principal photography began on 11 December 2020 in Hyderabad.[21] It is filmed at Hyderabad and Mumbai. The filming halted for sometime due to lockdown, COVID restrictions in 2021. In August 2021, Devgn travelled to Russia to do recce and finalise locations to film the scenes, reportedly later in September Ajay Devgn, Rakul Preet and Boman Irani travelled to Russia to film some airport scenes.[22] The film was wrapped on 17 December 2021.[23]

Release[edit]

The film was released theatrically on 29 April 2022, coinciding with the festival of Eid. It was released on Amazon Prime Video on 24 June 2022.

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

Runway 34 earned 3 crore at the domestic box office on its opening day. On the second day, the film collected 4.50 crore. On the third day, the film collected 5.50 crore, taking total domestic weekend collection to 13 crore.[3]

As of 19 May 2022 the film grossed ₹39.24 crore in India and ₹14.53 crore overseas for a worldwide gross collection of ₹53.77 crore.[3] The film fell short of break-even by almost 20 crore, making it a commercial failure.[8]

Critical response[edit]

Runway 34 received mixed reviews from critics.[24][25]

Rachana Dubey of The Times Of India gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote "Runway 34 should be experienced for the way it depicts one of the scariest, and a near-disastrous aviation mishap in recent times with engaging characters, thrill and drama".[26] Shweta Keshri of India Today gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "With Runway 34, Ajay Devgn finally finds his tongue as a director, and two atrocious prior attempts".[27] Rohit Bhatnagar of The Free Press Journal gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "With Runway 34, Ajay Devgn surely found his space that is rich in thrill".[14] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is evenly balanced between offenders and the offended before it goes on the defensive".[28] A Reviewer from DNA India gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is a balanced film, with right amount of technical, emotional and masala content".[29] Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Despite a gripping first half, the slow moving and conversation heavy second half limit the Ajay Devgn – Amitabh Bachchan starrer Rumway 34 a bit".[30] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Ajay Devgn, with a consistent performance that never goes off the radar, powers Runway 34. Rakul Preet Singh gives a solid account of herself. As for Amitabh Bachchan and other actors, the path is riddled with air pockets caused by blurry writing".[31]

Shilajit Mitra of Cinema Express gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is a frequently tense, perfectly serviceable aviation thriller, a genre of questionable repute in Hindi cinema".[32] Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is a clumsy cocktail of Hollywood movies spiked with the Bollywood brand of God complex".[33] Sanjana Jadhav of Pinkvilla gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 can be a one-time watch but there are better aviation dramas you may want to explore".[34] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Ajay Devgn manages to deliver a somewhat effective pre interval portion despite its inelegant, underlined bits, but the film plummets as the curse of second half hits".[11] Navneet Vyasan of News 18 gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Good VFX but Ajay Devgn's character feels cliched, Amitabh Bachchan holds together the enquiry scenes".[12]

Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is unmemorable because it lacks a sense of urgency even while recounting a life-and-death story.".[35] Monika Rawal Kukreja of The Hindustan Times stated "The Ajay Devgn directorial, which stars himself, Amitabh Bachchan, and Rakul Preet Singh is an edgy, fast-paced aviation drama that ends up being a great big screen cinematic experience".[36]

Being a film based on a true incident, the Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) criticised the film saying that pilots' profession are "unrealistically portrayed in the movie and may create apprehensions in the minds of fliers ... the character in the movie does not accurately represent our profession and that the industry has a zero-tolerance policy towards deviant behaviour and substance abuse. Our pilots are committed to abide by the highest standards of professionalism".[37]

Music[edit]

Runway 34
Soundtrack album by

Jasleen Royal

Released3 June 2022[38]
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length15:47
LanguageHindi
LabelPanorama Music
Official audio
Runway 34- Full Album on YouTube

The film's music composed by Jasleen Royal while lyrics written by Aditya Sharma.

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Certificate Detail". Central Board of Film Certification.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Runway 34 (2022)- Box Office India". Box Office India. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "RUNWAY 34 BOX OFFICE". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  4. ^ "Runway 34 trailer: Ajay Devgn plays an arrogant pilot, Amitabh Bachchan will set him straight with heavy dialoguebaazi". Hindustan Times. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022. Runway 34 is a high-octane thriller inspired by true events. It is special to me for many reasons.
  5. ^ Pandey, Devasheesh (22 March 2022). "Runway 34: The real story behind Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan's mid-air thriller will give you goosebumps". www.indiatvnews.com. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  6. ^ Kanyal, Jyoti (7 November 2020). "Ajay Devgn to direct Amitabh Bachchan in Mayday". India Today. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  7. ^ "Ajay Devgn's directorial starring him, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakul Preet Singh now titled Runway 34; first looks unveiled". Bollywood Hungama. 29 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Samrat Prithviraj to Runway 34: A-list movie stars, B-grade box office revenues, what is ailing Bollywood?". The Indian Express. 24 June 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  9. ^ "Know more about Runway 34 on Amazon Prime Video, including the price per view and other facts". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  10. ^ a b c "Runway 34 Cast, Budget, Screen Count, Box Office Collection". KCGMCKarnal.org. 30 April 2022.
  11. ^ a b "Runway 34 movie review: Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan film crash-lands in a dreary court room". The Indian Express. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  12. ^ a b "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakul Preet Singh's Aviation Drama Fails to Take Off". News 18. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  13. ^ "Runway 34 IMDB Cast". IMDb.
  14. ^ a b c "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn's film is an inch closer to crash landing, this flight is worth taking". The Free Press Journal. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  15. ^ "Vijay ikam". IMDb.
  16. ^ "Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh starrer 'MayDay' renamed 'Runway 34'". Mid-Day. 29 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  17. ^ "Ajay Devgn reveals why he chose Runway 34 title. Amitabh Bachchan shares what made him say yes to film". India Today. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  18. ^ "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn dangles his cigarette, doesn't light it. Does that help?". India Today. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  19. ^ Mishra, Mihir. "Pilot lands Jet Airways flight between Doha and Cochin with only 250 kg fuel left". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  20. ^ Basu, Nilanjana (7 November 2020). "Ajay Devgn To Direct Amitabh Bachchan In New Film Titled Mayday. Details Here". NDTV. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  21. ^ Maru, Vibha (11 December 2020). "Ajay Devgn begins filming MayDay with Big B and Rakul Preet, to release in April 2022". India Today (Press release). Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  22. ^ "Ajay Devgn confirms 'MayDay' release date, film to hit the theatres next year - Times of India ►". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
  23. ^ "Ajay Devgn and Boman Irani announce the wrap of Runway 34 while eating a wrap". Bollywood Hungama (Press release). 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  24. ^ "Runway 34: Amitabh Bachchan Pens Sweet Handwritten Note For Ajay Devgn; Abhishek Shares Glorious Review". News 18. Retrieved 1 May 2022. the film has received mixed responses from critics.
  25. ^ "Runway 34 box office collection day 2: Ajay Devgn-Amitabh Bachchan's film earns Rs 5.25 crore". DNA India. Retrieved 1 May 2022. the film has managed to get steady on its course due to positive word-of-mouth and good reviews from the critics.
  26. ^ "Runway 34 Movie Review : Ajay Devgn's aviation drama lands well within the runway". The Times Of India. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  27. ^ "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn dangles his cigaratte, doesn't light it. Does that help?". India Today. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  28. ^ "'Runway 34' review: Better airborne than on solid ground". Scroll.in. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  29. ^ "Runway 34 movie review: Ajay Devgn excels in this aviation thriller". DNA India. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  30. ^ "Runway 34 Movie Review: Runway 34 boasts of fine performances and a gripping first half". Bollywood Hungama. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  31. ^ "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn's Consistent Performance Powers The Film To A Smooth Landing". NDTV. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  32. ^ "Runway 34 review: This Ajay Devgn vehicle sticks the landing". Cinema Express. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  33. ^ "Runway 34 Review". Rediff. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  34. ^ "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan & Rakul Preet Singh's mediocre aviation drama crash lands". Pinkvilla. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  35. ^ "Runway 34 movie review: Devgn plays Devgn and Bachchan plays Bachchan in a largely bland, briefly suspenseful thriller". Firstpost. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  36. ^ "Runway 34 review: Ajay Devgn, the director makes a perfect landing in this visually immersive aviation drama". The Hindustan Times. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
  37. ^ "Ajay Devgn's Runway 34 creates stir as pilots' federation rejects claims of film being based on true events". Hindustan Times. 3 May 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  38. ^ "Runway 34– Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Jiosaavn. 3 June 2022.

  • Runway 34 at IMDb
  • Runway 34 at Bollywood Hungama

Who was the real pilot of Runway 34?

To summarize, Manoj Kumar Rama Warrier, who plays the genuine pilot in the Runway 34 film, was working Jet Airways when the misfortune happened in August 2015.

Is Runway 34 is a real story?

Runway 34 is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language thriller film produced and directed by Ajay Devgn under the Ajay Devgn FFilms banner. The film is inspired by an aviation incident of a Jet Airways flight from Doha to Kochi in 2015.

What happens to Vikrant in Runway 34?

Vikrant pulled a cigarette out and placed it between his lips. He closed his eyes and tried to land the plane. He landed the flight with closed eyes and was able to press the brake at the point beyond which the runway ended. He was upheld for saving the lives of 150 people.

Is movie flight based on true story?

Trivia (39) The accident in the film was inspired by a real-life disaster, the crash of Alaska Airlines 261 on January 31, 2000. Some dialogue in the film closely resembles the CVR transcript. Like in the film, the pilots of Alaska 261 rolled the airplane to an inverted position to try to stabilize the flight.