Hawaizaada
Hawaizaada (transl. "Airborne") is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language biographical drama film directed, written, and co-produced by Vibhu Puri. It's inspired by the life of Shivkar Bapuji Talpade, a 19th-century Indian scholar and inventor from Mumbai (then Bombay), who is credited in some accounts with building and flying an unmanned airplane in 1895—years before the Wright brothers' famous flight.
The film stars Ayushmann Khurrana in the lead role as Shivkar Bapuji Talpade (often called Shiv Talpade), alongside Mithun Chakraborty as his mentor Pandit Shastri, and Pallavi Sharda in a key romantic role (as Sitara). It blends elements of biography, romance, patriotism, period drama, and some musical sequences.
Quick Facts
- Release Date: January 30, 2015
- Runtime: About 157 minutes (2 hours 37 minutes)
- Genre: Biographical drama / Historical / Romance
- Production: Reliance Entertainment and others
Available on platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, and YouTube (including 4K uploads in some regions).
The story follows Shivkar, a spirited but unconventional young man who dreams of flight in British-ruled India. Facing limited resources, skepticism, and colonial challenges, he teams up with a scientist mentor to build India's first flying machine. The film emphasizes themes of perseverance, innovation, and national pride.
Reception was mixed—some praised its ambitious theme, visuals, and Ayushmann's earnest performance, while many critics found it uneven, overly long, melodramatic, and historically dramatized (the real Talpade's flight is debated and not widely accepted in mainstream aviation history). It didn't do well commercially and received average to below-average reviews overall (IMDb around 5-6 range, mixed user opinions).
If you're into lesser-known Indian historical stories or Ayushmann's early work, it's worth a watch for its inspirational angle and unique subject. The full movie is easily available online in HD/4K on YouTube if you're interested! Have you seen it, or are you planning to?
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