Ajay Devgn-starrer MayDay inspired from the 2015 Doha-Kochi flight incident
Ajay Devgn is on a roll nowadays. As an actor, he’s at the best phase of his career. His last film, Tanhaji – The Unsung Warrior was 2020’s biggest grosser, earning Rs. 279.55 crore. As a producer, his company, Ajay Devgn Ffilms, is doing great. And now as a director, he has begun work on his fourth directorial, MayDay. The superstar also acts in this film besides Amitabh Bachchan and Rakul Preet Singh. It is scheduled for release on April 29, 2022 and is already one of the most awaited films of Bollywood.
The title of the film had already made it evident that the film is something to do with an aircraft in need of help. But not much was given out by the film’s team about its premise. However, now it has come to light that MayDay is inspired by an astonishing but little known true incident. As per a recent report, the film is inspired by the 2015 episode of a Jet Airways Doha-Kochi flight that had a close shave due to poor visibility.
The said incident took place on Tuesday August 18, 2015 early in the morning. The flight 9W 555 had 141 passengers and eight crew members on board. Trouble arose when the flight, which took off from Doha, tried to land at its destination at Kochi but was unable to do so due to poor visibility. The plane was then diverted to Trivandrum where the visibility was equally poor, prompting the pilots to initiate a May Day call. After three failed attempts, the plane landed at Trivandrum airport with only 250 kg of fuel left, although some reports say it had around 350 kg of fuel left. However, the minimum a Boeing 737 aircraft should have as fuel reserve is about 1500 kg.
A trade expert says, “The incident made news at that point but was soon forgotten. Hence, audiences would be in for a surprise when they’ll see MayDay and realize that it’s inspired from a shocking, true incident. Also, the papers only reported about the incident but didn’t follow up with the case. So one hardly knows what happened later on. It’s an exciting idea that Ajay Devgn has chosen for his directorial venture.”
MayDay went on floors in December 2020 and most of the shoot is already over. Last week, the second last schedule was wrapped up in Mira Road and Vasai and now the final schedule will take place in Doha. This three-day shoot was scheduled to happen in April-end but due to the surge in Coronavirus cases, Ajay Devgn has decided to put this schedule on hold.
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