Sarfira flies, but not to soaring heights
Nonika Singh
Behind every successful man, there is an obstacle race, endless challenges and, of course, steely grit and obsessive determination. Here there is a woman, too, but more on her later. As expected in a Bollywood film, ‘Sarfira’, an adaptation of Tamil film ‘Soorarai Pottru’, behind the rise of low-cost airline Air Deccan and ascent of its founder GR Gopinath, there is a whole lot of drama too. How else do you tell the story of entrepreneurship except spice it up and amplify the facts?
The movie begins with a dramatic flourish. An airborne plane is denied permission to land even as it runs short of fuel. Akshay Kumar barges in the control room and tells the pilot to land on an Air Force station airstrip. He races Akshay ishtyle to avert a disaster. What happens to the plane and its passengers can wait, what can’t is the tale of this Sarfira, who not only dreams to soar high but makes the aam aadmi fly, literally. Flying, he strongly believes, is not the sole prerogative of the rich. He is introduced as Veer Mhatre (of course, Akshay Kumar) even before he appears as this crazy man dancing along a funeral procession.
Radhika Madan as Rani is en route to his village in Maharashtra to see him as a prospective groom. And his tales and traits spell fearless eccentricity, a hallmark of all visionaries.
Before the story moves to its real essence, the realisation of his impossible dream, a personal reckoner is in order. Son of an idealist father, he is a rebel of sorts but not without reason or cause. The story moves back and forth to add emotional gravitas. His equation with Rani, too, gets played to the hilt. Indeed, it’s rare for a biopic on a man to give so much time to his other half. But, Rani, we learn early on, is no pushover but a woman with a mind and dreams of her own. Radhika sparkles as this spitfire who runs a bakery business. Supported by some firebrand lines written by Pooja Tolani, she is more than impressive as the supportive and fiery wife.
Despite the glaring age difference between her and Akshay, there is sufficient relatability and emotionality to their couple act.
The film optimises Akshay’s innate earnestness and uses it as an effective tool to both enhance his character and make us feel for him. In scenes when he sits in the DGCA office day after day, waiting for the much promised appointment, you truly empathise with him. Which common man has not faced similar bureaucratic wrangles?
Indeed, the film devotes too much time on his trials and tribulations. Just when we think he has cracked the success code, yet another problem surfaces. Invariably, the man stalling him each time is airlines giant Paresh Goswami. Paresh Rawal reprises his part of the original as the conniving bad man, out to scuttle even a whiff of competition. The interval point has an intriguing twist.
Post-intermission, we see Mhatre’s village, his family, including his mother (the superb Seema Biswas), and friend in need Mandar (the competent Anil Charanjeett) pitching in, in crowd-funding fashion.
Just when we think some more problems are in store, Mhatre’s and the film’s flight lands on ‘all is well that ends well’ ground. Post credits, we are offered a few factoids, including retired Capt Gopinath’s elevation as an adviser to the government scheme Udan — Ude Desh ka Aam Nagarik, but glosses over some crucial details.
If the movie, even though based on Gopinath’s memoir ‘Simply Fly: A Deccan Odyssey’, comes with a disclaimer — ‘this is a work of fiction inspired by true events’ — our review too comes with a caveat, nay actually two. If you can get past the fact that the film is a frame-by- frame remake of National Award winning ‘Soorarai Pottru’, which came four years ago, and that Air Deccan does not fly anymore, this Sudha Kongara directorial (she directed the original in Tamil too), despite oodles of melodrama, is inspiring fare and entertains too in most parts.
