Runway 34

Runway 34
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Ajay Devgn
Written by	Sandeep Kewlani Aamil Keeyan Khan
Story by	Sandeep Kewlani
Produced by	Ajay Devgn
Starring	Ajay Devgn Amitabh Bachchan Rakul Preet Singh Boman Irani Angira Dhar Aakanksha Singh
Cinematography	Aseem Bajaj
Edited by	Dharmendra Sharma
Music by	Jasleen Royal
Production companies	Bombay Stencil Good Karma Films White Falcon Films Ajay Devgn FFilms
Distributed by	Panorama Studios
Release date	29 April 2022 (2022-04-29)
Running time	148 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Hindi
Budget	₹100 crore[2]
Box office	est. ₹75 crore[3]

Runway 34 is a 2022 Indian Hindi-language thriller film produced and directed by Ajay Devgn under the Ajay Devgn FFilms banner.^[4] The film is inspired by an aviation incident involving a Jet Airways flight 9W-555 from Doha to Kochi on August 17, 2015.^[5][6] The film stars Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan, and Rakul Preet Singh, with Boman Irani, Angira Dhar and Aakanksha Singh playing pivotal roles.^[7]

Runway 34 was released theatrically on 29 April 2022.^[8] It received mixed to positive reviews, but underperformed at the box office.^[9] It was released for digital streaming on Amazon Prime Video on 24 June 2022.^[10]

Plot

Captain Vikrant Khanna is an accomplished pilot who is preparing for a flight from Dubai to Cochin. He drinks alcohol and parties the night before the flight and feels tired on boarding it, where his co-pilot is Tanya Albuquerque. Later, a cyclone in Cochin leads to the flight being diverted to Trivandrum on Khanna's suggestion, despite objections from Albuquerque. Albuquerque says that Bengaluru has to be the second option, not Trivandrum, as the latter is near Cochin and has a high chance of having bad weather too. Khanna says that if they divert to Trivandrum, they can attempt a landing there and save fuel. Due to miscommunication, the pilots do not realize that Trivandrum is facing weather worse than Cochin, which reduces the visibility level. Captain Khanna somehow manages to land the flight while closing his eyes, and averts a major disaster.

Prior to an enquiry, a small interrogation takes place, including Khanna's medical test. The instrument, however, is damaged and isn't able to reveal whether or not Khanna is drunk. The enquiry is being held regarding the pilots' actions, headed by AAIB Head Narayan Vedant. The enquiry is held mainly because Alma Asthana, an elderly woman who was on the flight and was the sole passenger to trust Khanna with his decision to divert to Trivandrum, had died of a heart attack on her way to the hospital. During the enquiry, a polygraph is conducted on Khanna. Vedant scares Albuquerque with his questions, and she reveals that Khanna had closed his eyes during landing.

During the next session of the enquiry, Khanna reveals that he has a photographic memory, so he knew what he was doing during the landing, even though his eyes were closed as he was imagining everything in his mind based on past landings on the same runway. He eventually proves it through a simulated flight with Vedant as his co-pilot. He makes the same movements that he did on the night of the landing, this time wearing an eye cap over his eyes, to assure Vedant that he can land flights without seeing. He is suspended for three months, but is praised for his skill. After three months, Vikrant is going on his next flight, and it is revealed that an air hostess drank the alcohol out of sheer terror.

Cast

• Ajay Devgn as Captain Vikrant Khanna, The captain of Skyline 777^[11]
• Amitabh Bachchan as Narayan Vedant, Head of AAIB^[11]
• Rakul Preet Singh as First Officer Tanya Albuquerque, Vikrant's co-pilot^[12]
• Boman Irani as Nishant Suri, owner of the Skyline Airway company^[13]
• Angira Dhar as Radhika Roy, Vikrant's lawyer^[14]
• Aakanksha Singh as Samaira Khanna, Vikrant's wife^[14]
• Nirupama Verma as Samaira's mother
• Avantika Akerkar as Maya Dogra
• Vithalbhai Patel as Amandeep Singh Behal
• Jagdish Kansara as Aamil Khan
• Sudarshan as Kartikey Subramaniam
• Ram Menon as Varun Goswami
• Martin Jishil as Binu Sebastian
• Vasuki Punj as Ishita Bajaj
• Vijay Nikam as Santoshlal Tripathi, Employee at Cochin ATC
• Aamil Keeyan Khan as Vikram Sukumaran, ATC Trivandrum
• Jiten Mukhi as Titu Kanjani
• Flora Jacob as Alma Asthana, the old lady who dies^[11]
• Lokesh Mittal as Chaubey
• Kundan Roy as Chawla
• Al-Mamun Al Siyam as Lumin
• Hrishikesh Pandey as Yusuf Rangoonwala, Head of Pilot's Union
• Rakesh Bhavsar as Ramiz
• CarryMinati as himself (cameo appearance)

Production

Development

The film was originally titled Mayday. In November 2021, the name of the upcoming film was changed to Runway 34.^[15] The number "34" in the film's title was chosen because that was Ajay's age when his daughter Nysa was born.^[16] The film is based on true events, in which a plane from Doha to Kochi landed with only a very small amount of fuel left.^[17][18]

Filming

The official announcement of the film was made on 7 November 2020^[19] and principal photography began on 11 December 2020 in Hyderabad.^[20] It is filmed at Hyderabad and Mumbai. The filming halted for sometime due to lockdown, COVID restrictions in 2021. In August 2021, Devgn travelled to Russia to do recce and finalise locations to film the scenes, reportedly later in September Ajay Devgn, Rakul Preet and Boman Irani travelled to Russia to film some airport scenes.^[21] The film was wrapped on 17 December 2021.^[22]

Release

Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh at the second trailer launch of Runway 34 in Delhi.

The film was released theatrically on 29 April 2022, coinciding with the festival of Eid. It was released on Amazon Prime Video on 24 June 2022.

Reception

Box office

Runway 34 earned ₹16 crore at the domestic box office on its opening day. On the second day, the film collected ₹ 9 crore. On the third day, the film collected ₹9.50 crore, taking total domestic weekend collection to ₹35.75 crore.^[3]

As of 19 May 2022^[update] the film grossed ₹45.24 crore in India and ₹34.83 crore overseas for a worldwide gross collection of ₹75 crore.^{[3] [9]}

Critical response

Runway 34 received mixed to positive reviews from critics.^[23][24]

Rachana Dubey of The Times Of India gave the film a rating of 4/5 and wrote "Runway 34 should be experienced for the way it depicts one of the scariest, and a near-disastrous aviation mishap in recent times with engaging characters, thrill and drama".^[25] Shweta Keshri of India Today gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "With Runway 34, Ajay Devgn finally finds his tongue as a director, and two atrocious prior attempts".^[26] Rohit Bhatnagar of The Free Press Journal gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "With Runway 34, Ajay Devgn surely found his space that is rich in thrill".^[14] Nandini Ramnath of Scroll.in gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is evenly balanced between offenders and the offended before it goes on the defensive".^[27] A Reviewer from DNA India gave the film a rating of 3.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is a balanced film, with right amount of technical, emotional and masala content".^[28] Taran Adarsh from Bollywood Hungama gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Despite a gripping first half, the slow moving and conversation heavy second half limit the Ajay Devgn – Amitabh Bachchan starrer Rumway 34 a bit".^[29] Saibal Chatterjee of NDTV gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Ajay Devgn, with a consistent performance that never goes off the radar, powers Runway 34. Rakul Preet Singh gives a solid account of herself. As for Amitabh Bachchan and other actors, the path is riddled with air pockets caused by blurry writing".^[30]

Shilajit Mitra of Cinema Express gave the film a rating of 3/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is a frequently tense, perfectly serviceable aviation thriller, a genre of questionable repute in Hindi cinema".^[31] Sukanya Verma of Rediff gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is a clumsy cocktail of Hollywood movies spiked with the Bollywood brand of God complex".^[32] Sanjana Jadhav of Pinkvilla gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 can be a one-time watch but there are better aviation dramas you may want to explore".^[33] Shubhra Gupta of The Indian Express gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Ajay Devgn manages to deliver a somewhat effective pre interval portion despite its inelegant, underlined bits, but the film plummets as the curse of second half hits".^[12] Navneet Vyasan of News 18 gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Good VFX but Ajay Devgn's character feels cliched, Amitabh Bachchan holds together the enquiry scenes".^[13]

Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost gave the film a rating of 2.5/5 and wrote "Runway 34 is unmemorable because it lacks a sense of urgency even while recounting a life-and-death story.".^[34] Monika Rawal Kukreja of The Hindustan Times stated "The Ajay Devgn directorial, which stars himself, Amitabh Bachchan, and Rakul Preet Singh is an edgy, fast-paced aviation drama that ends up being a great big screen cinematic experience".^[35]

Music

Runway 34
Soundtrack album by Jasleen Royal
Released	3 June 2022[36]
Recorded	2021
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	15:47
Language	Hindi
Label	Panorama Music
Official audio
Runway 34- Full Album on YouTube

The film's music composed by Jasleen Royal while lyrics written by Aditya Sharma.

Track listing

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Mitra Re"	Arijit Singh, Jasleen Royal	3:41
2.	"The Fall Song"	Jasleen Royal	3:08
3.	"Jalaya Toh Nahin Na" (Music by Yashraj Mukhate & lyrics by Akshay Shinde)	Yashraj Mukhate, Ajay Devgn	2:21
4.	"Mitra Re (Reprise)"	Arijit Singh, Jasleen Royal	3:29
5.	"The Fall Song (English Version)"	Jasleen Royal	3:08
6.	"Mitra Re (Arijit Singh Version)"	Arijit Singh	3:42
Total length:			19:29

References

1. "Certificate Detail". Central Board of Film Certification.
2. "Runway 34 (2022)- Box Office India". Box Office India. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
3. "RUNWAY 34 BOX OFFICE". Bollywood Hungama. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
4. "Runway 34 trailer: Ajay Devgn plays an arrogant pilot, Amitabh Bachchan will set him straight with heavy dialoguebaazi". Hindustan Times. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 21 March 2022. Runway 34 is a high-octane thriller inspired by true events. It is special to me for many reasons.
5. HOW could they let it GO THIS FAR?!, 13 August 2022, retrieved 21 February 2023
6. Pandey, Devasheesh (22 March 2022). "Runway 34: The real story behind Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan's mid-air thriller will give you goosebumps". www.indiatvnews.com. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
7. Kanyal, Jyoti (7 November 2020). "Ajay Devgn to direct Amitabh Bachchan in Mayday". India Today. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
8. "Ajay Devgn's directorial starring him, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakul Preet Singh now titled Runway 34; first looks unveiled". Bollywood Hungama. 29 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
9. "Samrat Prithviraj to Runway 34: A-list movie stars, B-grade box office revenues, what is ailing Bollywood?". The Indian Express. 24 June 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
10. "Know more about Runway 34 on Amazon Prime Video, including the price per view and other facts". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
11. "Runway 34 Cast, Budget, Screen Count, Box Office Collection". KCGMCKarnal.org. 30 April 2022.
12. "Runway 34 movie review: Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan film crash-lands in a dreary court room". The Indian Express. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
13. "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakul Preet Singh's Aviation Drama Fails to Take Off". News 18. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
14. "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn's film is an inch closer to crash landing, this flight is worth taking". The Free Press Journal. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
15. "Ajay Devgn and Rakul Preet Singh starrer 'MayDay' renamed 'Runway 34'". Mid-Day. 29 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
16. "Ajay Devgn reveals why he chose Runway 34 title. Amitabh Bachchan shares what made him say yes to film". India Today. 6 April 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
17. "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn dangles his cigarette, doesn't light it. Does that help?". India Today. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
18. Mishra, Mihir. "Pilot lands Jet Airways flight between Doha and Cochin with only 250 kg fuel left". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
19. Basu, Nilanjana (7 November 2020). "Ajay Devgn To Direct Amitabh Bachchan In New Film Titled Mayday. Details Here". NDTV. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
20. Maru, Vibha (11 December 2020). "Ajay Devgn begins filming MayDay with Big B and Rakul Preet, to release in April 2022". India Today (Press release). Retrieved 6 April 2021.
21. "Ajay Devgn confirms 'MayDay' release date, film to hit the theatres next year - Times of India ►". The Times of India. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 9 May 2022.
22. "Ajay Devgn and Boman Irani announce the wrap of Runway 34 while eating a wrap". Bollywood Hungama (Press release). 17 December 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
23. "Runway 34: Amitabh Bachchan Pens Sweet Handwritten Note For Ajay Devgn; Abhishek Shares Glorious Review". News 18. 30 April 2022. Retrieved 1 May 2022. the film has received mixed responses from critics.
24. "Runway 34 box office collection day 2: Ajay Devgn-Amitabh Bachchan's film earns Rs 5.25 crore". DNA India. Retrieved 1 May 2022. the film has managed to get steady on its course due to positive word-of-mouth and good reviews from the critics.
25. "Runway 34 Movie Review : Ajay Devgn's aviation drama lands well within the runway". The Times Of India. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
26. "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn dangles his cigaratte, doesn't light it. Does that help?". India Today. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
27. "'Runway 34' review: Better airborne than on solid ground". Scroll.in. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
28. "Runway 34 movie review: Ajay Devgn excels in this aviation thriller". DNA India. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
29. "Runway 34 Movie Review: Runway 34 boasts of fine performances and a gripping first half". Bollywood Hungama. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
30. "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn's Consistent Performance Powers The Film To A Smooth Landing". NDTV. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
31. "Runway 34 review: This Ajay Devgn vehicle sticks the landing". Cinema Express. Retrieved 29 April 2022.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
32. "Runway 34 Review". Rediff. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
33. "Runway 34 Review: Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan & Rakul Preet Singh's mediocre aviation drama crash lands". Pinkvilla. Archived from the original on 10 May 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
34. "Runway 34 movie review: Devgn plays Devgn and Bachchan plays Bachchan in a largely bland, briefly suspenseful thriller". Firstpost. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
35. "Runway 34 review: Ajay Devgn, the director makes a perfect landing in this visually immersive aviation drama". The Hindustan Times. 29 April 2022. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
36. "Runway 34– Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Jiosaavn. 3 June 2022.

External links

• Runway 34 at IMDb
• Runway 34 at Bollywood Hungama