Nine years ago, Sonam Kapoor made her debut in the musical drama Saawaryia (My Love) directed by one of India's most imaginative directors Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Since then, she struggled to find mainstream success. Not because she didn't have a niche, but because critics and audiences did not accept what her niche was. The actress made a number of films celebrating girlishness, and the joy of femininity. For that reason, she was dismissed as an actress, until her knockout performance as heroic flight attendant Neerja Bhanot. There is something to be said about how easily critics were able to embrace Sonam Kapoor, now that she had starred in a film belonging to a decidedly masculine genre.
Neerja Bhanot was a flight attendant, who rescued 359 passengers aboard a Pan Am plane. When in Karachi, Libyan terrorists hijacked the plane, and the pilots abandoned the aircraft (a seemingly puzzling decision; however, it is protocol to ground the plane by doing this). Neerja then takes control and tries to calm the passengers and appease the terrorists. Neerja avoids making its heroine into some sort of superhero. While a hijack thriller has been known as a traditionally male genre, Neerja ushers the genre into feminine territory.
Prior to her work in Neerja, Sonam Kapoor had crafted a "princess persona." Her characters were vivacious and charming, with eclectic fashion and bright smiles. The best expression of this persona is the 2010 film Aisha, based on the Jane Austen novel Emma. The spoiled sweet character of Emma Woodhouse really brought out Kapoor's strengths as an actress: her sense of humor, good nature, and endearing self-centeredness. Many of other roles, especially her comedic ones, expanded this persona into different characters and settings.
The culmination of the screen presence she crafted for herself was when she played an actual princess in Prem Ratan Dhan Payo (I Have the Treasure of Love). Sooraj Barjatya, famous for his wholesome family musicals, directed that film and Kapoor's presence brought the traditional film into the 21st century. Kapoor fits so naturally playing a regal character because it was the role that she had building up to her entire career. The fashion of the film is one of its highlights, but Sonam Kapoor's graceful and grounded performance really elevated the film as well.
Once an actor builds her persona, it is time for her to break it down. Enter Neerja. The slyest trick of the film is that it presents Neerja as just another typical Sonam Kapoor character. It's another variation of that Emma Woodhouse type girl"the kind of popular, happy-go-lucky girl you would hate if only she weren't so genuinely sweet and kind. Judging from what I have read about the real Neerja Bhanot, this portrayal is accurate to real life. As the film goes on, however, it becomes clear that the carefree attitude is a mask for overcoming past tragedy and her source for overcoming her current one.
Neerja offers several flashbacks to Neerja's former marriage to an abusive husband, and showcases that the courage she needed to leave that situation is what is helping her during the hijacking. There is a fabulous sequence where Neerja hides in the lavatory to gather herself, the terrorist banging the door. Director Ram Madhvani and his editor Monisha R. Baldawa cut back and forth between the present and the past, where Neerja hid in the bathroom from her husband to gather herself. Madhvani uses the sound of the men banging on the door, yelling for Neerja to come out, to show that the hijacking is bringing back memories of that traumatic experience. Neerja managed to build her resolve back up in the past, and she can do it again with the terrorists.
Sonam Kapoor being an actress associated with girlish comedies drives home the film's philosophy that there can be bravery and heroism in qualities that are conventionally considered "feminine." Neerja's compassion, reliance on training, and nurturing personality are what allows her to subvert the hijackers' plans. In a version of this story with a male protagonist, the movie would have the guy try to overpower the terrorists by physical force, possibly further endangering his own lives and those of the passengers. The lack of any overtly macho heroics is what saved those people because Neerja tried her best to keep the terrorists calm and used her brain to figure out a way to make sure her passengers were safe. In another outstanding scene, the terrorists order the flight attendants to gather all the passports; by threatening the lives of American passengers, the terrorists presume that the military forces will give them what they want. Neerja secretly instructs her colleagues to hide the American passports, delaying the terrorists' threats.
By placing the typical "girly-girl" in a life or death situation, Madhvani shows how that persona is not as superficial or vain as people might have thought. Sonam Kapoor plays Neerja as a girl similar to her past characters, but shows that girl breaking under the pressure. Madhvani gives Kapoor a number of striking, unforgettable close-ups that betray her despair in the face of danger (like the moment where she is forced to sing her favorite Bollywood song). It's horrifying seeing such a happy girl in breakdown. But she is able to fight back those tears to help those in need. Neerja's courage was remarkable, but that her courage came from fear is refreshing in an age when action heroines are rarely allowed to be vulnerable
The film ends with Shabana Azmi delivering a powerful speech about how in India brothers are often looked to for protection, but sisters are not. And that should change. It is an important moment, especially in an era where women's rights are being fought for every day across the globe. Our society often diminishes conventional femininity, and Neerja shows that it's to our detriment.
By placing her "princess" persona in mortal danger, Kapoor deconstructs that carefree attitude which defined many of her previous characters. Neerja is the final step for her development as an actress. The film showcases how Neerja's charmed life resulted from overcoming her past tragedy, and how she used that strength to face new crises. Neerja s truly an exceptional film and even those unfamiliar with Indian cinema should seek it out. It is a film that celebrates femininity, and the wide spectrum of attributes and strengths encompassed in that label. Sonam Kapoor really delivered a performance of a lifetime, but it's one that has been brewing in her choice of roles since her debut.
http://filmdebate.co.uk/article/article-indian-star-sonam-kapoor-deconstructs-her-princess-persona-in-neerja/filmdebate.co.uk/article/article-indian-star-sonam-kapoor-deconstructs-her-princess-persona-in-neerja/
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