At the 62nd Filmfare Awards, Neerja won six awards, including Best Film (Critics), Best Actress (Critics) for Kapoor, and Best Supporting Actress for Azmi.Ģ2-year-old Neerja Bhanot arrives late for a house party one evening. It won two awards at the 64th National Film Awards including Best Feature Film in Hindi and Special Mention for Kapoor. The film received a number of accolades at Bollywood award organisations, with particular praise for Kapoor's performance and Madhvani's direction. The film grossed ₹135.52 crore (US$18 million) at the box office. Neerja was released on 19 February 2016 to critical acclaim, and became one of the highest-grossing Bollywood films featuring a female protagonist. The film features music by Vishal Khurana, with lyrics written by Prasoon Joshi. Saiwyn Quadras and Sanyuktha Chawla worked on the script, with principal photography taking place in Mumbai. The film is shown from the point of view of head purser of the flight, Neerja Bhanot, who thwarted the hijack attempt by alerting the pilots, thus grounding the plane Bhanot died trying to help save 359 of the 379 passengers and crew on board.ĭevelopment began in September 2014, when Kasbekar signed Madhvani and Kapoor for a film to be made by Bling Unplugged and Fox Star Studios. The plot is based on a real-life event: the hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan by Libyan-backed Abu Nidal Organization on 5 September 1986.

The film features Sonam Kapoor as the title character with Shekhar Ravjiani, Shabana Azmi, Yogendra Tiku, Kavi Shastri and Jim Sarbh in supporting roles.

It was produced by Atul Kasbekar's company, Bling Unplugged, alongside Fox Star Studios. Neerja is a 2016 Indian Hindi-language biographical thriller film directed by Ram Madhvani and written by Saiwyn Quadras and Sanyuktha Chawla Shaikh.

Neerja movie hijackers cast