Runway 34

Aseem Bajaj's cinematography is spectacular, especially in cockpit scenes. Despite the lack of space, the lensman manages to come out with flying colours. Sabu Cyril, Sujeet Subhash Sawant and Sriram Kannan's production design is realistic. Navin Shetty, Uma Biju and Radhika Mehra's costumes are authentic. Bishwadeep Dipak Chatterjee's sound adds to the realism. NY VFXWaala's VFX is praiseworthy. Dharmendra Sharma's editing is weak.

Runway 34 is evenly balanced between offenders and the offended before it goes on the defensive.

The most effective disaster movies keep both stakes and suspense high, but in ‘Runway 34’, my heart was never in my mouth. In part because the real-life incident that the film is based on (a 2015 flight from Doha to Kochi had a successful trajectory), and in part because it has an invincible Bollywood hero at the helm. When a mainstream film is so completely controlled by an A-lister (Devgn is producer-director-lead star), it is inconceivable that it will harbour any complexity, either in the creation of characters or in the way it is told. So going in we know the kind of film we will get — put together in broad brushstrokes, easy to consume, and where the hero emerges victorious. For all that, Devgn manages to deliver a somewhat effective pre interval portion despite its inelegant, underlined bits, helped enormously by computer graphics, and menacing background music.

Runway 34 is a gripping film, inspired by the true story behind the Jet Airways Doha to Kochi flight, 9W 555. Due to bad weather and low visibility, the pilot, in this case, Vikrant, had the impossible choice of attempting a landing that could go either way. Runway 34 is surrounded by a populated area, runway 16 would have been an easier choice, flying off to Bengaluru airport instead would have been by the book. Yet, swag and his unlit cigarette in place, Vikrant lands, just narrowly escaping a crash. Now, narrow escape is not something we can say about Ajay's Twitter flight. Again, another story, another day. What doesn't land is the second half of the film. But that, perhaps, has more to do with Amitabh Bachchan's loud acting, than Ajay's know-it-all swag, which you kind of grow into by this time. Really.