The New Year has begun on an upbeat note for Bollywood superstar Akshay Kumar. The actor, who has been mixing sensible and sensitive cinema with routine entertainers, has received a huge round of applause for the trailer of Airlift. Based on the teaser that came a few weeks ago, a market study showed that the movie's first day collections are reportedly tracking higher than his last few releases.

If you are wondering what the reason is, then watch the trailer. It has the right doses of heroism and patriotism that immediately touch a chord with all of us who are proud of our country.

Directed by Raja Krishna Menon, this edge-of-the-seat thriller, which also stars Nimrat Kaur, is based on a true story of the biggest ever human evacuation in the world that holds a Guinness World Record. On August 2, 1990 when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, 1,70,000 Indians were rendered homeless and bankrupt. There was however, one hero, Ranjit Katyal (Akshay), who risked his own life and that of his family to help evacuate his fellow Indians.

Talking about the response to the trailer, Akshay says, “It's great to see Indians loving films like Baby and Gabbar Is Back, which make us proud of ourselves. In the trailer, when the Indian tricolour goes up, it's not just the audience who gets goose bumps. Even I had the same reaction when I heard the script. It's a heroic and patriotic story, based on true events, which could not have come at a better time than this Republic Day weekend.“

Producer Bhushan Kumar is just as excited. He states, “Airlift is a story of an unsung hero in a historic event for Indians and we, at T-Series, are extremely proud to produce this film. Akshay was outstanding even in our earlier production, Baby. But in Airlift, he has outdone himself. We would encourage every Indian to watch this film.''

Airlift, produced by T-Series, Hari Om Productions, Emmay Entertainment and Abundantia Entertainment, releases on January 22.