Flight Review: Crisp Visuals And Mohit Chadda's Performance Make It A Safe Landing

An exasperated Ranveer Malhotra (Mohit Chadda) waits for his death patiently, as he is trapped on a plane that is flying at an altitude of more than 31,000 feet. He spends this tumultuous time playing golf on the plane, sending voice notes to his girlfriend and watching his conspirator unfold his deadly plan to eliminate him. These are some of the many subtleties which Mohit's nuanced performance brings out in the survivalist film Flight to highlight his character's vulnerabilities in the face of death.

What's Yay: Mohit Chadda's performance and the impeccable VFX and cinematography.

What's Nay: The character development of the rest of the star cast.

Story

Ranveer Malhotra (Mohit Chadda) is the managing director of a multibillion-dollar company called Aditya Raj Aviation. He is dashing, free-spirited and a hardcore Bollywood buff who is extremely passionate about his late father's company. When one of his flight crashes and costs several lives, he catches hold of the Black Box (a recording device inside a plane). When he takes upon the responsibility to find out the main reason behind his company's faulty systems, he boards a flight 'Pheonix' to fly solo. However, he soon realizes that he is trapped inside the plane all alone and has been left to die, but there is a larger conspiracy looming behind the same.

Filmmaker Suraj Joshi has efficiently brought in the tribulations of a man trapped in a plane to fight for his life. The plotline is crisp and neatly presented. The film does not go overboard considering that it is a high-octane survival drama. The writing by Babita Ashiwal and Suraj Joshi brings out the realism in the series of events. The story strictly focusses on the main protagonist's fight for survival without any kind of deviation in the form of unwanted twists and turns.

However, there is also a surprise element in the end, which adds to the interest factor for viewers. The only con is that Flight the movie has other characters with different layers but they have not been explored to the full length. It would've been interesting to see these characters getting more developed as the movie progressed.

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Performances

Mohit Chadda is a convincing guiding anchor to Flight as Ranveer. From muttering some Bollywood dialogues to intimidate his employers to showing the vulnerability and helplessness of being left to die on a plane, he wins big with every layer of his character. He does not stretch it hard to appear like a quintessential superhuman who is miraculously surviving his situation but instead, his efforts to stay alive in the crisis seem real and relatable.

Pawan Malhotra as Balraj does full justice to his role and brings out the required mystery surrounding his character in the end. Zakir Hussain is realistic as the main antagonist Raman Khanna who is responsible for Ranveer's plight. His performance makes his character appear truly loathed in some of the scenes. Shibani Bedi nails her Middle East accent as the flight aid crew Rukhsana. RJ Pritam Singh makes a hit and miss appearance as Captain Sanjay Sanyal.

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Technical Aspects

The VFX amps up the plane crash scene thus adding a perfect catalyst to the plot. The editing by Rahul Mathur hits the right note and there is nothing irrelevant to hamper the pace of the film. Deepak Pandey does an excellent job with the cinematography in Flight, capturing the claustrophobic atmosphere of the plane in a majority of the film.

Music

The background score by Smriti Minocha adds to the seriousness of the plot. It perfectly captures the nail-biting and frightening situation wherein the main protagonist is caught up.

Verdict

This one has taken the risky plunge in these times to hit the theatres, promising the audience a well-made survival film. Mohit Chadda's attempt as the protagonist deserves applause while Suraj Joshi has taken the reins behind the lens in an efficient manner. The end also promises an even more adrenaline rushing sequel soon.

We give Flight 3 out of 5 stars.