Juxtaposing Airlift with Hotel Rwanda

Despite all the controversies and debates around accuracy of the events depicted on-screen, Raja Krishnan Menon’s Airlift has been successful in generating a sense of nationalism out of spectators’ conscience. Even from a critical point of view the film appears to be a fair watch, though strictly on technical grounds. Other than untimely and “diegetic” song sequences what bothered me the most was it’s uncanny similarity with Terry George’s 2004 classic Hotel Rwanda. Lets see what Airlift has on platter that reminds us of Hotel Rwanda - 

The War 

Airlift swirls around the invasion of Iraqi Army in the lands of Kuwait something that is considered as the offshoots of the Gulf War.  Hotel Rwands on the other hand, tells narrates the horror of 1994 civil war between Hutus and Tatsis. 

Every was has heroes (if not heroines)

In every wartime story, there must be a hero who in-spite of horrid circumstances and personal sufferings lead his people to the victory.  Paul Rusesabagina of Hotel Rwanda played by Don Cheadle and our Ranjit Katyal, played by Akshay Kumar, appear to have been characterized so similarly that your having earlier watched any of the film will be a spoiler for the other. Ruseasabinga sniffs at his own country and his lifestyle affirms his assent to the superiority of his colonial masters. Similarly, Ranjit Katyal is all ready to loose or it wouldn't be more apropos to say has forgotten his Indian identity. Both are rich and when the time comes are ready to not only lead but rescue their own people. 

On the part of the heroine, however Amrita Katyal, played by Nimrat Kaur got some melodrama to do that considering a Bollywod production, if was not done would be surprising. 

Villains are meant to be manipulated, thanks its not information age

Well, I am not saying that the accounts of the negative forces being manipulated are entirely fictitious and has no resemblance to reality; such things happen in real life too but the position these manipulations hold in both the narratives is disturbingly similar. Both the manipulations - of the Rwandan General  Augustin Bizimungu and of  Major Khalaf bin Zayd in Airlif are used to accentuate the protagonists’ holding high grounds over the antagonistic forces. 

In Airlift Ranjit Katyal uses his “connections” in Iraq for manipulation, similarly in Hotel Rwanda Ruseasabagina brings his Belgian masters to rescue. 

Nothing comes easily - if its easy its gonna fail

Like in Hotel Rwanda when first batch of refugees takes off from the hotel, things seem to be all good and then they were halted by the rebels, in Airlift the shipyard that was supposed to be containing 500 Indian refugees, was annexed by the Iraqi soldiers. 

Humanity first 

Ruseasabagina pays hundreds of thousands of dollars and Rwandan francs to save people even those who are not his responsibility and refuses to leave when he had the chance of. Similarly Ranjit Katyal stays with his people and sacrifices his freedom for the good of the community. 

Unlike Ruseasabagina, a Hutu who takes stand for Tutsis, the rival community, Ranjit Katyal’s focus is solely on people of his own community but there comes a time when he in spite some resistant voices takes a Kuwaiti woman and her toddler with him. He then fights with Iraqui soldiers to save her. 

Both the films, seem to have a lot of formal aspects in common but they almost exploit certain political and aesthetic sentiments that they successfully do. Airlift helps people derive nationalistic sentiments that with the rise of the Hindu nationalism acts as a realization of united Indian identity. On the other hand, Hotel Rwanda speaks for a much deeper and philosophical postcolonial realities that still, after decades, haunt the western conscience.