Director Menon wrote the script after studying the whole incident of the war and the predicament of Indians based in Kuwait. Kumar collaborated with the flight company Air India to promote the film, which had a major contribution to the evacuation of a record-breaking number of Indians during the war.
Airlift opened theatrically worldwide on 22 January , coinciding with Republic Day weekend. The film was a commercial success, it emerged as a blockbuster at Indian as well as abroad box office. In , Indian expatriate Ranjit Katyal Akshay Kumar is a successful businessman based in Kuwait, and is very well-connected with officials in Kuwait City and Baghdad.
He has a happy home with his wife Amrita Nimrat Kaur and their daughter Simu. He calls himself a Kuwaiti and is often derisive towards Indians.
After a night of partying, Ranjit is woken up to a phone call from his friend and receives word that negotiations between Iraq and Kuwait have collapsed, and Iraqi troops have begun their invasion of Kuwait.
Ranjit and Nair, his driver, go out and drive to the Indian embassy in an attempt to take their family and leave Kuwait. They are stopped by Iraqi soldiers at a checkpoint and Nair is shot dead amidst the confusion.
