Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 1990 was in debt of the US because of the long-drawn Iran conflict that it had undertaken. Iraq wanted Kuwait to reduce oil production, to create a scarcity of oil leading to increasing oil prices, thereby helping Iraq raise more money. But Kuwait refused, leaving Iraq furious. On August 2nd 1990, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait (part of the first Gulf War). The Iraqi army took over the city within a few hours. The Kuwaiti royal family managed to escape to Saudi Arabia, leaving the state rudderless. The city was looted and the general population subjugated and made to suffer great tragedies in the hands of the Iraqi army. Kuwait was home to almost 170,000 Indians, all of who had suddenly become moneyless and homeless.

Bhushan Kumar’s Airlift directed by Raja Menon, based on true events, is a heroic story of a man Ranjit Katyal (played by Akshay Kumar), a wealthy and powerful Indian businessman who had always seen himself as a Kuwaiti and not Indian, but who with the help of the Indian government, safely evacuated these 170,000 Indians back to their country.

This was the largest and most successful evacuation attempted by any country in the world. Airlift is an edge-of-the-seat-thriller and is the story of this heroic evacuation that also won a Guinness World Record for India.