Neerja

On 5 September 1986 Pan Am flight 73 is seized on the ground in Karachi by an armed group. When the pilots leave through the cockpit and escape, the most senior crew member left aboard is the twenty-three-year-old purser Neerja Bhanot. For seventeen hours she manages the passengers, hides the Americans' passports, and is shot at the end while opening an emergency door and getting people out. Ram Madhvani based the film on the real event and on the account of Bhanot's family. It does not slip into a display of heroism, showing the woman's fear and her decisions at the same time. Sonam Kapoor leads. The marriage strand cut in between completes who she was. Who it is for: viewers who like thrillers based on real events and single-location stories. Who it is not for: anyone avoiding scenes of armed violence.