The recently released Akshay Kumar-starrer Airlift has sparked off a war of words between the filmmaker and the Ministry of External Affairs. Vikas Swarup, the official spokesperson for the MEA, has published a video claiming that the filmmakers have taken artistic liberties with facts.
Also read: MEA: Not Cool, Akshay Kumar, Why Is Your ‘Airlift’ Unkind to Us?
Raja Krishna Menon, Director of Airlift to Times NowStory of Ranjit Katyal. No, I haven’t shown MEA in a bad light. I appreciate the efforts by the government. But that’s not the story. The story is about a businessman Ranjit Katyal and his efforts. If there’s a misunderstanding, I’ll be happy to clarify. We have not taken artistic liberties with the facts of the story.
He then went on to say that in regard of the fictional character of Ranjit Katyal, he has taken artistic liberty, but not with the facts.
Watch the video here:
The film is based on the incident of mass evacuation in 1990 of 1,70,000 Indians who were stuck in Kuwait when Iraq attacked the latter. A few Indians took the initiative and helped the stranded fellow-countrymen even as direct help from India was not immediately available.
Raja Krishna Menon, the director of the film, has claimed that the film is honest and is undocumented, in an interview with Times Now.
Menon also said that they got the story right and that if people are going to point out differences in the colour of cars, he can’t help it.
Contrary to the filmmaker’s claims, Swarup stated, with proof, that there was documentation of and participation of the MEA in the event. He tweeted a first-hand account of KP Fabian, the head of the Gulf Division of the Ministry of External Affairs during the First Gulf War.
“I can vouch for this as I was on the frontline of evacuating Indians from Kuwait who were coming to Turkey via Syria,” Swarup said.