Genre: Drama, Thriller
Release Date: 29th April, 2022
Cast: Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakul Preet Singh, Boman Irani
Director: Ajay Devgn
Plot:
Star cast: Ajay Devgn, Rakul Preet Singh, Amitabh Bachchan & Boman Irani
Director: Ajay Devgn
Producers: Ajay Devgn
Runway 34 Box Office Review: Expectations
Ajay Devgn giving another shot at directing a film certainly did generate mixed feelings for many, remembering his attempts with U, Me Aur Hum and Shivaay. Thankfully, the trailer was cut impressively and made some sort of hype if not much.
Despite being a film with Ajay Devgn and Amitabh Bachchan leading the ground, it failed in garnering maximum pre-release attention due to its very urban feel and not-so-exciting promotions. A clash with Tiger Shroff’s actioner Heropanti 2 further put it on a much low level in pre-release buzz.
So, Runway 34 not at all gave a feeling of an opening day smasher but a decent opener building its way with good word-of-mouth.
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Runway 34 Box Office Review: Impact
Just what the trailer promised, this Ajay Devgn directorial manages to keep you hooked and intrigued. No, it’s not an excellent product but a decent watch amid a pool full of recent larger-than-life entertainers. It’s a fresh change and it might work in its favour. It will work with the audience in A centre, and in B centre, it will work to an extent. But wait, that doesn’t mean the route is safe for the film.
There’s already a huge monster present in the form of KGF Chapter 2, and if the reports are to be believed, the advance booking has picked up the pace for KGF 2 considering the Eid period. Clearly, KGF 2 looks to be a first preference for the festive period as far as advance booking is concerned. So, in presence of such a big film, a good start needs to be achieved to set a stage and further take an advantage of good word-of-mouth. However, in the case of Runway 34, the start has been very slow. To give an example, I watched the film in presence of just 4 people in 9 am’s show. Just imagine!
So, it looks like the urban feel and a comparatively slow start are messing up things here. Also, there’s KGF Chapter 2 present in theatres and another multiplex film in the form of Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is arriving next week. To face such hurdles, the content needs to be extraordinary and not just decent. A dicey situation for sure!
Runway 34 Box Office Review: Final Verdict
Ajay Devgn delivers a decent film with his honest attempt, but it isn’t a dhamaka that Bollywood needs to bounce back amid the South frenzy. Considering some limitations and competition, the film will wrap up its box office run between 45-60 crores.
Must Read: Runway 34 Movie Review: Ajay Devgn’s ‘Salika’ To Copy Sully Misses The Target!
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Runway 34 Movie Review Rating:
Star Cast: Ajay Devgn, Amitabh Bachchan, Rakul Preet, Boman Irani, Angira Dhar, Aakanksha Singh, Ajey Nagar
Director: Ajay Devgn
What’s Good: Ajay Devgn’s fight to find that one right film to direct, an extremely natural presence of Rakul Preet
What’s Bad: A misdirected turn in the second half & all that follows post that
Loo Break: Anytime during the second half
Watch or Not?: Walkout during the interval & you won’t miss anything substantial
Available On: Theatrical Release
Runtime: 148 Minutes
User Rating:
Meet Vikrant Khanna (Ajay Devgn), a middle-aged extremely cocky pilot, who is in his late 30s but still bets for his friend’s swanky car on getting a chick by his side in Dubai’s pub. He parties the whole night, drinks and drives to reach home in the morning for flying a flight in the same evening. He keeps a Cigarette in his mouth in a non-smoking zone only to say “Jalaya toh nahi na” to people annoyed around him.
How do you show your character is arrogant? Make him walk to the airport donning goggles and earphones, ignoring the world around him and that’s how Vikrant meets his co-pilot Tanya Albuquerque (Rakul Preet). Vikrant along with Tanya takes off from Dubai for Cochin, because of a cyclone incoming (and his cockiness) he decides to land the flight in Trivandrum going against the co-pilot’s suggestion. He somehow lands the plane safely but lands himself in an investigation around his controversial decision. How would you get out of an investigation that’s led by Amitabh Bachchan? Well, that’s what the film is all about.
Runway 34 Movie Review: Script Analysis
Heavily inspired by Tom Hanks’ Sully and Denzel Washington’s Flight, Sandeep Kewlani & Aamil Keeyan Khan’s story takes off on a thrilling note. Barring the forced emotional backstories of a few passengers on the flight, the first half’s safe-landing aspect brings in a few electrifying sequences (one I loved the most is in which Rakul’s Tanya just freezes on knowing their landing is in a deadly danger). It’s the second half that causes turbulence in the narrative, the courtroom sequences which were supposed to be the lifeline of the story turn out to be extremely generic.
All the good ends really fast leaving everyone with Amitabh Bachchan confusing with his ‘shudh Hindi’ & arguments that aren’t as smartly penned as Pink, Badla, Section 375 or Mulk. Aseem Bajaj’s camerawork is extensively used in the first half (owing to a poor story structure) where he does some cool tricks leading to the landing sequence. The structure made me wonder, why didn’t they mix up the court sequences along with the flight scenes to keep a proper balance? Why show your cards so soon, to fold up losing?
Runway 34 Movie Review: Star Performance
Ajay Devgn as a director lets down Ajay as an actor because somewhere between doing both, he spoils the actor in him. Getting an extremely uni-dimensional character, there’s nothing much Ajay’s Vikrant does throughout the film apart from being cocky. The emotions come across as forced due to poor writing.
Amitabh Bachchan comes in the second half to continue doing something very similar like Badla (and even Pink to some extent). You get the usual package of baritone-heavy dialogues in ‘shudh Hindi’, but we all have seen a better version of the same before. Rakul Preet remains to be the most humane character among everyone else. Though her character doesn’t have any say in changing the narrative, she compensates by acting really good in whatever she gets.
Boman Irani, Angira Dhar, and Aakanksha Singh are wasted. And what the FU*K is even Carry doing here? Being a fan of Ajey Nagar‘s previous work, this is an abomination for me to watch. The idea of making him look exactly the same off-screen, as he’s in front of the camera just doesn’t work. He mouths dialogues just as he does in his videos, but that doesn’t work at any level. If he’s thinking this would up his image, it won’t!
