Not many know that the 2016 film Airlift’s makers kept Irrfan Khan in mind while processing further with the film, however later, they ended up roping Akshay Kumar for the film.
In a chat with Film Companion, the Airlift director Nikhil Advani said, “I once went to narrate a film to Akshay Kumar and he immediately said, ‘No this is not for me’. He asked what else I was working on. I said there is this other film that I’m not directing. A director called Raja Menon will make it, it’s based on a real story. It was Airlift. The next morning he said, why won’t you offer this to me?”
He continued, “I said because you’ll never do it. There’s no song, the director’s earlier film was Barah Aana… the numbers just don’t add up. Also, Raja wants Irrfan for this part. He said can you please speak to him, I really want to do this”
