I was in for a surprise. I found the trailer good but the movie just blew my mind. From the initial scenes of character nurse Sameera's pain as she struggles between motherhood, a divorce, night shifts and also the tension to get a job in Iraq to the later scenes where she witnesses horribly injured patients at an Iraqi hospital and then the nightmare of ISIS terrorists who hold her & her colleagues hostage are shown brilliantly. Parvathy is near flawless as Sameera and hope she gets another state award for her performance. Kunchacko Boban as her husband and Fahadh Fasil as an Indian Embassy officer are the other major characters in the movie and they both deliver very well. This movie may draw comparisons with the Bollywood movie Airlift released last year due to similar theme of Indians caught in a war zone in Middle East. I'd say both are very good in their own way although each has some flaws too. What I'd remember Take Off for is Parvathy's performance and also many of the tense scenes that involve the terrorists. They get seared into your brain long after the movie is over. But as this movie is only inspired by true events, some of the liberties taken with the story fail to convince in few scenes. Also, the reaction of Fahadh's character to the news that his decision saved some of the Indians from an explosion on a road is quite cinematic, it almost mocks the deaths of the other nationalities caught in that tragedy. But these are somewhat minor flaws in an otherwise masterfully made movie of hope and the will to endure any crisis. I think it's a must see.
