Neerja criticised for being more fictional than real

Sonam Kapoor-starrer, Neerja, which failed to make way into Pakistani cinemas for allegedly showing the country in a negative light, opened in India this Friday to great reviews from critics and fans alike. However, while the film has been doing good business and garnering a lot of appreciation, it appears to be a work of fiction than a depiction of reality.

The film was essentially promoted as a biopic on Pan Am flight attendant Neerja Bhanot, who sacrificed her life while saving passengers during a hijacking incident at the Karachi airport in 1986, but according to one crew member, Nupur Abrol, who was present at the time, the events shown are far from what really happened.

“It is a difficult moment for all those flight attendants to accept the movie for what it is unfairly propagating,” Abrol wrote on Facebook. “Neerja was a wonderful person and I think even her soul today would cringe at taking this undeserved adulation. Not fair to the flight attendants who have in reality faced the ordeal!”

Abrol went to the extent of saying that Neerja wasn’t really the hero, unlike what is shown in the movie. “Oh no! I was incidental in that plot. Astrid, Sherene, Sunshine and of course Massey were the real heroes of the day. I am glad today I can show my gratitude to them.”

The film, which was pitched and promoted as a biopic on the courageous soul through various promotional acts, is now being criticized for dramatizing history. However, in the filmmakers’ defense, the film actually begins with the disclaimer that “the film is not a biography or a documentary on the brave Pan Am air hostess.” This adds to the fact that even with biopics and adaptations, makers are entitled to creative license. Hollywood films like The Social Network also included scenes which weren’t part of real-life occurrences but the problem arises when the film has been sold as a biopic and isn’t as truthful.