''Take Off'' is a 2017 Indian
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
-language
survival
Survival, or the act of surviving, is the propensity of something to continue existing, particularly when this is done despite conditions that might kill or destroy it. The concept can be applied to humans and other living things (or, hypotheti ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
, based on the
ordeal of Indian nurses in the city of
Tikrit
Tikrit ( ar, تِكْرِيت ''Tikrīt'' , Syriac language, Syriac: ܬܲܓܪܝܼܬܼ ''Tagrīṯ'') is a city in Iraq, located northwest of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Gover ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
, in 2014. The film is the directorial debut of editor Mahesh Narayan, starring
Parvathy Thiruvothu
Parvathy Thiruvothu Kottuvattaa (born 7 April 1988) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil language films. She is the recipient of a National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards South, and two Kerala State Film Award ...
,
Kunchacko Boban
Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer. Sometimes referred to as Chackochan, he works in the Malayalam film industry and has acted in more than 90 films in more than two decades. He is a member of the List ...
,
Fahadh Faasil
Fahadh Fazil (8 August 1982) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has appeared in few Tamil and Telugu films. He has acted in more than 50 films and has received several awards, including a Nati ...
and
Divya Prabha
Divya Prabha (born 18 May 1991) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil-language films. She gained wider attention for her roles in the films '' Take Off'' and ''Thamaasha''.
In 2015, she won Kerala State Televisi ...
. It is written by Mahesh Narayan and
P. V. Shajikumar
P. V. Shajikumar is a Malayalam author, screenplay writer and software engineer. He has won Kendra Sahitya Akademi's Yuva Award and Kerala Sahitya Akademi's Geeta Hiranyan Award.
Biography
He married Maneesha Narayan. He ventured into writin ...
. The film was shot in various parts of
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
and Kerala.
''Take Off'' was released on 24 March 2017, and received praise at the box office, winning the
Silver Peacock - Special Jury Award for (Mahesh Narayan), and
Silver Peacock for Best Actress (Parvathy) at the
48th IFFI. Parvathy also won her first
Special Jury Mention at the
65th National Film Awards
The 65th National Film Awards ceremony was an event during which the Directorate of Film Festivals presented its annual National Film Awards to honour the best films of 2017 in Indian cinema. The awards were announced on 13 April 2018. The awar ...
, her second
Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress
The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress is an honour presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India since 1969 to an actress for the best performance within the Malayalam film industry. Until 1997, the awards were managed direct ...
, and a second
Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Malayalam
''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, an ...
. It was included in
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade.
Plot
Sameera is a nurse in Kerala who is moving to Iraq for better salary. Her husband, Faizal and family members were not supportive of her wish to work to pillar her family who have taken loans for her nursing education and struggling to repay. They finally get divorced after their differences leaving her son Ibrahim under Faizal's care. Shaheed, a colleague from work understands all her problems and wishes to marry her. Though Sameera is initially hesitant about another marriage, the two get married before moving to Iraq. They along with a group of 19 nurses of same hospital move to Iraq to join
Tikrit
Tikrit ( ar, تِكْرِيت ''Tikrīt'' , Syriac language, Syriac: ܬܲܓܪܝܼܬܼ ''Tagrīṯ'') is a city in Iraq, located northwest of Baghdad and southeast of Mosul on the Tigris River. It is the administrative center of the Saladin Gover ...
Teaching College, which is an Iraqi Government Hospital.
Moving to Iraq, they realize Iraq is no more a peaceful country as projected during interview time, with conflicts rising on daily basis. The doctors are over-strained with rise of casualties. Sameera's knowledge in Arabic helps her to communicate better with Arabic doctors and she leads the nurses' group in their new working environment and challenges. In mean time, she gets pregnant and needs to hide this from her first son, Ibrahim who is about to visit her for vacation. Surprisingly, Faizal also comes along to permanently hand over Ibrahim to Sameera due to issues in his family. Ibrahim finds it hard to accept Shaheed as his new step father and when he realizes that his mom has remarried, he runs out of their quarters only to see the city is now a major riot zone with pro-
ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...
supporters uprising against Iraqi Central Government in the city. He is brought back to quarters by Sameera. Shaheed feels that Ibrahim needs some time alone with Sameera to realize the new environment. For this, he offers his assistance to Army medical team moving to
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...
to deal with the local casualties over there. He consoles Sameera that it's a matter of two weeks which is sufficient for Ibrahim to get adjusted to his new realities and the mission is not dangerous as the army is along with them.
However within a day, Mosul falls into hands of
ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...
and the medical team is taken into captive. News gets flashed and Sameera pleads with hospital management to help in rescuing her husband. As Iraqi forces retreat from Mosul, the Iraqi government is no longer in position to help. The hospital manager advises Sameera to seek assistance of Indian Embassy in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. Sameera along with manager visits Embassy where she meets Indian Ambassador Manoj Abraham. They promise assistance but remind them that it's a war zone and Indian Government has its own limitations in intervening.
While Sameera is in Baghdad, Tikrit falls into ISIS hands which they discover while coming back to hospital. ISIS militants kill the manager, while bringing Sameera back to hospital to join with other nurses who are now captives of ISIS. Sameera relays this matter to Indian Embassy and calls out for help, which brings the matter to serious concern of both Indian Government and Kerala Government, as all nurses were from
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
state.
In meantime at Mosul, ISIS terrorists kill the doctor for not complying with them to treat wounded terrorists. Shaheed to save his life, offers medical assistance to wounded ISIS terrorists. Sameera starts informing about the tensed situation at Tikrit through her mobile to Kerala government. The
Chief Minister of Kerala
The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Fol ...
along with India's Foreign Affairs Minister starts briefing with the Ambassador. As there is no direct communication or normal diplomatic relationship with ISIS, Indian government has little chances of a formal route to intervene. Indian Government sends its Foreign Secretary to Iraq, who initially thinks that Iraqi Army will help the stranded nurses out of Tikrit. However the Ambassador doesn't join on that and assumes full responsibility to rescue. Meanwhile,
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, an ...
offers their assistance and a bus is arranged to fetch all stranded nurses out of Tikrit. But, as they need to pass through extreme violent war zones of Mosul, Indian Embassy cancels permission, which results only Indian Nurses stranding in Tikrit, while other nationalities taken out. However the decision of Indian Embassy is proven right when the bus gets caught in a crossfire near Mosul, killing all nurses. With just 19 Indian nurses stranded in Tikrit, ISIS decides to use them as human shields and plan to take them to their key base Mosul. India responds by dropping food packets near hospital, but one packet contains a secret satellite phone with location detector which Sameera take over to correspond with Crisis Command center at Indian Embassy.
Ambassador Manoj instructs Sameera to destroy all passports and documents that reveal their identity and asked all other nurses to declare themselves as Muslims, as ISIS terrorists might attack non Muslims among them. Sameera teaches all other nurses basic religious things like Namaz and covering the head as well as hiding all religious symbols. Meantime, Kerala Government along with its Foreign affairs agency-
NORKA brings in a prominent Malayalee Businessman- Jayamohan of Crescent Group who have close links with Influential Saudi royal member a persuaded him to make a deal with ISIS on India's behalf. Jayamohan, after hearing the nurses pleas over their satellite phone, rushes to meet Sheikh Salman, member of royal family, requesting his assistance to intervene with the ISIS . After a prolonged discussion, He agrees to broker on behalf of India unofficially without any record.
Meanwhile, at Mosul ISIS base, Sameera and nurses are brought before a main cleric, who test them to ensure they all are Muslims. Sameera's knowledge in Arabic, her son's knowledge in Quran and the coordinated Namaaz all help them to believe that the entire nurses are of Muslims and no harm is done. With the Royal's intervention, a secret deal was drawn between India and ISIS. ISIS agrees to transfer the nurses to
Erbil
Erbil, also called Hawler (, ar, أربيل, Arbīl; syr, ܐܲܪܒܹܝܠ, Arbel), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It lies in the Erbil Governorate. It has an estimated population of around 1,600,000.
Hu ...
near the Kurdistan Check Point. Meanwhile, with Sameera's persistence, she finds out Shaheed among ISIS captives who were about to be executed and with her pleas, she is able to rescue him from there. Sameera, Shaheed, Ibrahim and nurses are brought to
Kurdistan
Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...
from where India take them over in their buses and a special flight is arranged to take them back to
Cochin
Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...
from Erbil.
As the movie ends, actual footages of nurses reaching Cochin airport and their narration of experience under ISIS are depicted on the screen with a second climax scene where Jayamohan destroys the documents that reveal the secret deal between India and ISIS, with a voice over that it shall remain as a classified secret of India.
Cast
*
Parvathy Thiruvothu
Parvathy Thiruvothu Kottuvattaa (born 7 April 1988) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil language films. She is the recipient of a National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards South, and two Kerala State Film Award ...
as Sameera
*
Kunchacko Boban
Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer. Sometimes referred to as Chackochan, he works in the Malayalam film industry and has acted in more than 90 films in more than two decades. He is a member of the List ...
as Shaheed
*
Fahadh Faasil
Fahadh Fazil (8 August 1982) is an Indian actor and film producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and has appeared in few Tamil and Telugu films. He has acted in more than 50 films and has received several awards, including a Nati ...
as Manoj Abraham IFS, Indian Ambassador to Iraq
*
Divyaprabha as Jincy
*
Prakash Belawadi
Prakash Belawadi is an Indian theatre artist, film director, television and media personality, who's also a teacher, activist and a journalist. He hails from Bangalore. He has participated in many seminars, conferences and festivals in India an ...
as Rajan Menon, Secretary of External Affairs, Govt. of India
* Eric Zachariah as Ibru, Sameera and Faizal's son
*
Parvathi T.
Parvathi T., also known as Maala Parvathi, is an Indian actress, who appears in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu films
Personal life
Parvathi was born in Thiruvananthapuram, to Adv C. V. Thrivikraman and gynaecologist Dr K. Lalitha. She complete ...
as Shaheed's mother
*
Anjali Aneesh
Anjali Nair (born 16 July 1988) is an Indian actress and model who predominantly works in Malayalam film industry. She is a recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Character Actress at Kerala State film Awards in 2015.
Early and per ...
as Shaheed's sister
*
Prem Prakash
Cheriyan Joseph, popularly known as Prem Prakash is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam television serials and a renowned producer in Malayalam movies. He is mainly known for supporting roles and character roles. He has produce ...
as Jayamohan, Crescent Group CEO
*
Rukhsar Rehman
Rukhsar Rehman (born 29 October 1975) is an Indian film & television actress and model in Bollywood. Rehman made her film debut in 1992 at the age of 17 with a lead role in Deepak Anand's ''Yaad Rakhegi Duniya'' opposite Aditya Pancholi and als ...
as Dr. Nafeeza
*
Alencier Ley Lopez as Salim, Sameera's father
*
Devi Ajith
Devi Ajith (born 28 March 1973) is an Indian actress, dancer and a television personality in the Malayalam film industry. She is known for her roles in ''Trivandrum Lodge'' and ''Immanuel''. She is also seen in a short film named ''Virgin Road ...
as Dr. Susan
* Sreeja Das as Daisy
* Vishnu Prakash as Subair, Sameera's Uncle
*
Rebecca Santhosh as Sameera's sister
*
Rony David
Dr.Rony David is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam cinema, mainly in supporting roles. He made his debut in the 2007 film ''Chocolate''. He is also a physician who practiced at KIMS Hospital
KIMS Hospital is the largest independent pr ...
as Alby
*
Ujjwal Chopra
Ujjawal Chopra is an Indian Bollywood and television actor. He played the character of Gora Singh in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Padmaavat'', and as Solanki in ''Special 26
''Special 26'' is an Indian Hindi-language 2013 period heist thrill ...
as Yosuf
*
Sal Yusuf
Sal Yusuf is an Indian actor and stand-up comedian who works in Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi-language films.
Career
Sal Yusuf moved from London to Banglore, where he became a stand-up comedian and is also a part of the comedy group, The Imp ...
as Dr. Thareek
*
Asif Ali as Faizal, Sameera's ex-husband (cameo)
*
Priyadarshi Pulikonda
Priyadarshi Pulikonda (born 25 August 1989) is an Indian actor and comedian who works in Telugu films. He gained recognition for his role in ''Pelli Choopulu'' (2016). In addition to supporting roles, Priyadarshi played the lead in films such as ...
as Indian in Iraq
*
Joju George
Joseph George, better known as Joju George (born 22 October 1977) is an Indian actor, playback singer and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in Malayalam films and worked on Tamil projects as well. In 2015, he won the ...
as husband of a nurse in interview hall
*
Sidhartha Siva
Sidhartha Siva (born 5 May 1985) is an Indian film director, producer, actor, screenwriter and lyricist, who works in Malayalam cinema.
Early life
His hometown is Kaviyoor in Kerala. He is the son of filmmaker Kaviyoor Sivaprasad.
Film career ...
as Doctor
* Joseph Simon Mampilli as Candidate behind Kunchako Boban and Joju Joseph
Music
The music is composed by
Gopi Sundar
Gopi Sundar C. S. (born 30 May 1977) is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works prominently in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries. He started his career composing music for tele ...
and
Shaan Rahman
Shaan Rahman (born 30 December 1979) is an Indian composer and singer, best known for his compositions in the Malayalam cinema. Shaan made his debut as a music director in the 2009 film ''Ee Pattanathil Bhootham'' directed by Johny Antony. He g ...
.
The background score is composed by
Gopi Sundar
Gopi Sundar C. S. (born 30 May 1977) is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works prominently in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries. He started his career composing music for tele ...
.
Box office
''Take Off'' was released on 24 March 2017.
Satyam Audios
Satyam Audios is an Indian music company headquartered at Kochi, Kerala. The greatest stage is not the one where we perform, rather it is for those who create, shape, and mold to form a piece of music. Satyam audios are one of the leading musi ...
released the VCD, DVD and Blu-ray of the film in mid 2017.
Celebrities praised the movie, including actor
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...
. The film was screened at international festivals, including
International Film Festival of India
The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. Held annually, currently in the state of Goa, on the western coast of the country, the festival aims at providing a common pla ...
and
International Film Festival of Kerala
The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...
.
The film grossed 25 crore at the box office.
The film collected $853,101 from UAE box office in its three weekends,$21,248 from UK box office and $9,918 from New Zealand box office. The film ran for over 125 days in theatres
Reception
The Times Of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...
rated the film 4 out of 5 stars saying that "Take Off is a brilliant take on a real-life tale and with the director's own spin on the incidents, it makes an engaging cinematic experience that could give even Bollywood movies of similar genre, made at much-bigger budgets, a run for their money".
The News Minute
''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Dhanya Rajendran, Chitra Subramaniam and Vignesh Vellore in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, And ...
rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and stated "With excellent performances and intelligent direction, Take Off is a must-watch".
Manorama Online
''Malayala Manorama'' is a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala, India by the Malayala Manorama Company Limited. Currently headed by Mammen Mathew; it was first published as a weekly on 22 March 1888, and currently has ...
rated the film 3.5 out of 5 stars saying that "Take Off is an absolute must-watch if you want to witness Mollywood's earnest attempt to fly new heights.
Baradwaj Rangan
Baradwaj Rangan is an Indian film critic, writer, and formerly the deputy editor of ''The Hindu''. He later became a senior editor of Film Companion. Rangan won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2006. Before joining ''The Hindu'' ...
of Film Companion South wrote "The film, thus, lands in a Roja-meets-Airlift zone. These portions are still very well done. The director isn't after your average rescue thriller. He wants to explore this chapter of recent history, and even through the fictionalising techniques, we sense documentary-like precision in the way information has been gathered and is now being disbursed to us...the production values are outstanding...the filmmaking is so precise, I jumped out of my skin."
Difference between film and actual events
The film was inspired by the real events which happened in 2014, during the early days of the ISIS crisis in Iraq. At the same time, it's a work of fiction. The incidents close to the reality starts just about the close to the interval. The incidents depicted there after is very graphic in nature and also match with how the story unfolded in the real life.
* The story in the second half tells us how a group of nurses who were working at
a hospital in Tikrit, an Iraqi town near Mosul, Iraq were rescued from the captivity of terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which is a real incident. However, in movie the group consists of 19 nurses, while in reality the group had 46 members.
* Parvathy's character Sameera is loosely based on Marina Jose who played an instrumental role in the rescue operation. Marina was in touch with
Oommen Chandy
Oommen Chandy, , (born 31 October 1943) is an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for two terms, from 2004 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2016. He was also Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislati ...
, then Chief minister of the Indian state of Kerala and A. Ajaya Kumar, the Indian Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq. Her SOS messages helped the Indian officials in keeping track with the nurses.
* Another decision that perhaps made the crucial difference was stopping the nurses from travelling with a Red Cross rescue operation. This incident was later confirmed by the Chief minister of Kerala.
* In the movie, at the peak of the tension, the group was seen as being relocated by the militants to Mosul. This match with the real incident.
* The movie shows a reluctant Keralite business man was persuaded by the Indian Ambassador into using his close ties with the Saudi Royal Family to get them talk to the militants. While this was speculated by media during the days after the successful rescue of the nurses, India's external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj refuted this in the Parliament of India. However former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has later confirmed that, "Malayali NRI businessmen in the Middle East have helped significantly in the release of Malayali nurses from the war-hit regions of Iraq and Libya. The situation as you know was critical and some of our businessmen extended help."
But he didn't give any details of the nature of the help by the Keralite business community, citing security to the personnel involved.
Controversy
In an event on April 20, 2020
Parvathy said that
Islamophobia
Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism.
The scope and precise definition of the term ''Islamophobia'' ...
is a reality in Kerala and her films including ''Take Off'' are also part of that. To this allegation, director
Mahesh Narayanan
Mahesh Narayanan (born 2 May 1982) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, editor and cinematographer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, he has also worked in Tamil cinema, Tamil and Bollywood, Hindi films. He is a recipient of the ...
responded that Parvathy doesn't know what Islamophobia is.
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
External links
*
{{IFFI Silver Peacock - Special Jury Award and Special Mention, state=collapsed
2010s Malayalam-language films
2017 films
Films whose production designer won the Best Production Design National Film Award
Indian political drama films
2010s political drama films
Films scored by Shaan Rahman
Films scored by Gopi Sundar
Indian pregnancy films
Films set in Iraq
Indian films based on actual events
2017 directorial debut films
2017 drama films
Films directed by Mahesh Narayanan
Films about Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Films set in Baghdad
Films set in Kerala
Films shot in Kerala
Films shot in Kozhikode
Films shot in Dubai
Films about jihadism
Iraq War films