
He discloses that an Indian merchant ship is due to arrive in Iraq with various supplies, and permits the Indian refugees to leave on the ship. The only remaining option, Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz, turns out to be helpful. Ranjit travels to Baghdad to try and set up a way out of Kuwait but the Indian embassy there is of no help. Ranjit pays a visit to Major Khalaf and talks to him about this, to which the Major simply extends his apologies, and also reveals that President Saddam has already permitted Indians to leave Kuwait, but the problem is that they have no way to do so. Later on, the camp is looted by Iraqi soldiers, terrifying everyone in it. Ranjit learns that the Indian embassy in Kuwait has been evacuated and phones the Indian External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi, where he reaches the Joint Secretary, Sanjiv Kohli (Kumud Mishra), and asks for arrangements to be made for the evacuation. He decides to stay and help the other Indians get out of Kuwait. Amrita urges Ranjit to use his leverage to extricate his own family but Ranjit, who ordinarily would have just looked out for himself, appears to have a change of heart.

Ranjit convinces his friends to work together, and they set up a makeshift camp for some 500 Indians with Major Khalaf's permission. Iraqi forces continue to push through Kuwait and eventually Ranjit's mansion is broken into, but his wife and child manage to escape to his office. The some 170,000 Indians in Kuwait are now stranded as refugees. Major Khalaf, who knows Ranjit from Ranjit's visits to Iraq, chides him but extends his personal friendship, ensuring Ranjit and his family's safety from the soldiers.įrom there, Ranjit goes to the Indian embassy where he learns that the Kuwaiti government has fled. There he meets Iraqi Republican Guard officer Major Khalaf bin Zayd (Inaamulhaq), who reveals that he was the one who pulled up to the checkpoint earlier and prevented Ranjit from any harm. A shocked Ranjit is then taken to the Emir's palace. They are eventually stopped by Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint and Nair is shot dead amidst the confusion. Ranjit and Nair, his driver, go out and drive to the Indian embassy in an attempt to take their family and leave Kuwait.

That morning, Ranjit discovers that Kuwait is now mostly overrun by Iraqi soldiers. When Kuwait refused, and began slant-drilling into Iraqi oil fields, Saddam ordered the attack. Iraq owes a large debt to Kuwait after the Iran-Iraq war and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq had urged Kuwait during earlier talks to reduce their oil supply so prices can rise in the market and Iraq can stabilize their economy.


He calls himself a Kuwaiti and is often derisive towards Indians.Īfter a night of partying, Ranjit is woken up to a phone call from his friend and receives word that negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait have collapsed, and Iraqi troops have begun their advance on Kuwait. Ranjit is a successful Kuwait-based businessman who is very well-connected in Kuwait and Iraq, and makes a happy home with his wife Amrita (Nimrat Kaur) and little daughter Simu. Kuwait, 1990: Indian businessman Ranjit Katyal (Akshay Kumar) is a fictional character based on the real-life events of Mathunny Mathews. The film is featured among the 2016 Indian Panorama section of the International Film Festival of India The marketing of the film played an important role in the film's promotion and collaboration with the flight company Air India, who had a major contribution in the evacuation of record-breaking number of Indians during the war. With a budget of ₹300 million (US$4.5 million), the film premiered worldwide on 22 January 2016. The film follows Ranjit Katyal (Akshay Kumar), a Kuwait-based businessman, as he carries out the evacuation of Indians based in Kuwait during the Invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Airlift is a 2016 Indian war thriller film directed by Raja Krishna Menon, starring Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur.
