Bell Bottom
Bell Bottom is a 2021 Indian Hindi-language action thriller film directed by Ranjit M Tewari.
The film is written by Aseem Arrora and Parveez Sheikh, with production by Vashu Bhagnani, Jackky Bhagnani, Deepshikha Deshmukh and Nikkhil Advani under their respective banners Pooja Entertainment and Emmay Entertainment.
It stars Akshay Kumar as the lead character, with Lara Dutta, Vaani Kapoor and Huma Qureshi in other prominent roles.
Bell Bottom is inspired from real life hijacking events in India by Khalistani separatists during the 1980s, such as the Indian Airlines Flight 423, 405 and 421 hijackings.
The story of the film revolves around the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight IC 691 that takes off from Delhi on August 24, 1984. This was fifth Indian Airlines plane hijacking in last seven years.
The hijacking occurred during the administration of former Indian Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi (Lara Dutta).
While the Prime Minister Gandhi plans to let the Pakistani government negotiate with the four hijackers (when the plane has landed in Lahore), under-cover RAW agent, Anshul Malhotra (Akshay Kumar), code-named Bell Bottom, has a different plan in his mind.
He wants to not only rescue 210 passengers but also arrest the hijackers. The rest of story revolves around this covert mission to save passengers of IC 691 in Dubai.
Bell Bottom earned ₹2.75 crore at the domestic box office on its opening day. On the second day, the film collected ₹2.60 crore.
On the third day, the film collected ₹3 crore. On the fourth day, the film collected ₹4.40 crore taking total opening weekend domestic collection to ₹12.75 crore.
As of September 2021, The film grossed ₹36.40 crore in India and ₹14.12 crore overseas, the film has a worldwide gross collection of ₹50.52 crore.
The film was banned in three Gulf countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar.
The film certification authorities banned it on grounds of tampering with historical facts.
It was pointed out that the 1984 incident actually had the United Arab Emirates Defence Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and the UAE authorities nabbing the hijackers, while the film portrayed Kumar’s character and his team as the real heroes of the mission.
