After Operation Sankat Mochan - initiated to evacuate Indians from the violence-stricken Juba in South Sudan - successfully brought 156 individuals home, Akshay Kumar lauded the efforts made by the External Affairs Ministry.

The actor who featured in Raja Krishna Menon's Republic Day release, Airlift, sent out a congratulatory message to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj after urging her to take immediate action. “Congratulations on the success of Operation Sankat Mochan undertaken to evacuate Indians from war-torn South Sudan Sushma Swaraj, Gen VK Singh,“ he said.

The Indians were evacuated on Friday on board a special IAF plane in an operation led by Swaraj and Minister of State for External Affairs, VK Singh.

In Airlift, a film on the evacuation of Indians during Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Akki played Kuwait-based Indian businessman Ranjit Katyal, fashioned after Mathunny Mathews who was instrumental in orchestrating the real-life evacuation.