‘Safrira’ review: Sky-high emotions in film about India’s first low-cost airline

Sudha Kongara’s Sarfira, her Hindi remake of her Tamil film Soorarai Pottru (2020), is based on Air Deccan founder GR Gopinath’s memoir Simply Fly and “stories from Indian aviation”. The saga of how India’s first low-cost airline came up in the 2000s is a tribute to Indian entrepreneurship as well as a cautionary tale of what happens to those who try to compete with crony capitalists.

When former Indian Air Force pilot Vir Mhatre (Akshay Kumar) decides to convert his pie-in-the-sky project into reality, he goes up against Jaz Airlines founder Paresh Goswami (Paresh Rawal). Goswami doesn’t just have a direct line to the aviation minister. As Vir ries to launch a no-fuss, affordable airline that he jokingly calls a “flying Udupi hotel”, he learns that Paresh Goswami is Indian aviation personified.

Vir’s strongest ally is his wife Rani (Radhika Madan). Their partnership of equals is driven by their shared quirkiness but is tested ever so often by the pressures that come their way from Goswami.

In attempting to highlight the difficulties faced by Vir, Sudha Kongara and co-writer Shalini Ushadevi drum up the drama, turn on the faucets and pump up the volume. Every possible obstacle rises in Vir’s path, leading to overwrought scenes that border on the fantastical despite supposedly being based on...

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