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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

AI’s Maharaja smiles joyfully

All 30 grounded aircrafts now fly Mumbai : Air India’s Maharaja is all pleased as punch at 80. After years of huge costs and efforts, the last of the grounded 30 aircraft – inherited by the Tata Group during the privatization in Jan. 2022 – is now resurrected fully and took to the skies gracefully on Monday.   The aircraft is the gleaming VT-ALL, a Boeing 777-300ER, that was gathering grime since February 2020, and becomes the final among the two-and-half dozen aircraft that have been revved...

AI’s Maharaja smiles joyfully

All 30 grounded aircrafts now fly Mumbai : Air India’s Maharaja is all pleased as punch at 80. After years of huge costs and efforts, the last of the grounded 30 aircraft – inherited by the Tata Group during the privatization in Jan. 2022 – is now resurrected fully and took to the skies gracefully on Monday.   The aircraft is the gleaming VT-ALL, a Boeing 777-300ER, that was gathering grime since February 2020, and becomes the final among the two-and-half dozen aircraft that have been revved up and revived in the past few years, AI official sources said.   It marked a symbolic milestone for Air India itself - founded in 1932 by the legendary Bharat Ratna J. R. R. Tata - which once ruled the roost and was India’s pride in the global skies.   Once renowned for its royal service with the iconic Maharaja welcoming fliers on board, in 1953 it was taken over by the government of India. After years of piling losses, ageing aircraft, decline in operations and standards – almost like a Maharaja turning a pauper - it returned to the Tata Group four years ago.   This time it was not just the aircraft, the brand and the deflated Maharaja coming into the large-hearted Tata Group stables, but a formidable challenge to ensure that the airline could regain its old glory and glitter. Of the total around 190 aircraft in its fleet were 30 – or 15 pc – that had been grounded and neglected for years.   At that time, the late Ratan N. Tata had directed that all these valuable aircraft must be revived as far as possible and join the fleet. Accordingly, the VT-ALL, languishing at Nagpur for nearly five years, was ‘hospitalized’ at the Air India Engineering Service Ltd., its MRO facility in May 2025.   New Avatar Then started a thorough, painstaking nose-to-tail restoration of an unprecedented scale, in which over 3000 critical components were replaced, over 4,000 maintenance tasks executed, besides key structural upgrades like the longeron modification, engines, auxiliary power units, avionics, hydraulics, landing gears and almost every vital system was rebuilt or replaced.   After the repairs, the old aircraft was reborn, under the gaze of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and technical assistance from Boeing, and the new ‘avatar’ jetliner emerged with the highest global safety standards.   The aircraft cleared all the rigorous checks, a successful test flight, earned the mandatory Airworthiness Review Certificate and then made its maiden commercial flight from Monday, March 16 – after a wait of six years.   Sturdy Fliers Created in 1946 to become an instant global icon, the Air India’s mascot Maharaja now sports a youthful and chic look, a welcome with folded hands, closed eyes, featuring a bejewelled turban, stylish jootis, and a textured kurta in Air India’s new colours. He is prominently visible at various touch-points in a flyer’s journey, such as First Class, exclusive lounges, and luxury products.   Today, he commands a mix fleet of around 190 narrow and wide-body Airbus and Boeing aircraft like : A319, A320, A320neo, A321, A321neo, A350-900 and B787-8, B787-9, B7770200LR, B-777-300ER. With the merger of Vistara and agreements signed for 10 A350 and 90 A320 aircraft, the Maharaja’s fleet is slated to soar to some 570 in the near future.

Small Town Stories, Big Screen Impact

Fifty years after Sholay, Bollywood returns with Dum Laga Ke Haisha, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Stree, and Laapata Ladies, offering honest small-town tales that break stereotypes and showcase India’s diverse cultures as audiences seek authenticity beyond urban glamour.


The glamour and glitz of Bollywood cinema are often associated with the 'big, bad, beautiful' megacities—Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, and other major metros. The characters in these films embody the gloss and chutzpah of big-city life through costumes, make-up, revealing outfits, item numbers, and bold romance, including intimate scenes. In contrast, small-town communities often appear marginalised and overshadowed by big-budget productions with permissive values, polished visuals, lavish sets, and the full spectacle of sound, colour, music, and dance.


However, India is vast, with a diverse population beyond its major cities. Its people lead varied lives, speak different languages, and have distinct cultures—festivals, music, dance, food, theatre, and literature. As the world’s largest film producer, India’s growing media networks mean audiences outside big cities seek films they can relate to—in stories, settings, songs, and emotions. Bollywood has created a market for small-town movies. These films use local stories and settings that appeal to both regional and national audiences.


The small-town story began long ago. Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay (1975), set in the fictional village of Ramgarh, offers radical portrayals of men and women, showing that small-town characters like Jay, Veeru, Thakur, and Gabbar Singh—real or fictional—should not be underestimated. Sippy carefully crafted distinct speech patterns for each character. The two main female leads provide speech contrasts: one extremely talkative, the other silent, adding depth. Radha (Jaya Bachchan), now silent post-widowhood, is shown in flashbacks as a lively, film-loving maiden. Basanti (Hema Malini), an orphan who drives a tonga ferrying villagers and city folk, is smart, bold, brash, and fearless. Jay and Veeru are rootless, aimless, but good-hearted thieves, courageous enough to face a villain like Gabbar Singh. Sholay’s enduring popularity over 50 years, with global repeat viewings, proves that small towns and villages are far from insignificant.


The small towns and pockets of villages have found strong popularity among the mass audience across the country because the audience in those geographical pockets feels happy with the identification they find in seeing the cities and villages they belong to on-screen, telling some of their own stories.


Over the past decade, Bollywood has switched gears from urban romances like Jaane Tu… Ya Jaane Na (2008), Wake Up Sid (2009), and Break Ke Baad (2010) to romantic comedies set in small towns like Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015), Bareilly Ki Barfi (2017), and Stree (2018). The marked shift is reflective of certain changes in India’s cultural landscape, shaped by a myriad of socio-economic factors that Bollywood is attempting to keep up with.


Set in the North Indian town of Bareilly, Bareilly Ki Barfi breaks away from big-city romances to present real people—with stammers, crushes, and meddling matchmakers-in a charming small-town love story. Its leading ladies are bold, smart, and assertive, defying the ‘cute and shy’ stereotype often associated with small-town girls. Linking this and a similar film is Chirag Dubey (Ayushmann Khurrana), a modern-day Devdas pining for his Bubbly, now married to someone else. Avinash Das’ Anaarkali of Arrah (2017) follows Anaarkali (Swara Bhaskar), a young woman from Bihar’s Arrah who inherits her mother’s profession—performing erotic song-and-dance numbers for all-male audiences, arranged by a local orchestra and its owner (Pankaj Tripathi). Amid whistles, catcalls, and dancing men, she sways in shimmering costumes to suggestive lyrics. Though far from the virginal ideal, Anaarkali owns her choices and owes no explanations-not even to the man who employs her. The Tanu Weds Manu films (2011, 2015), starring R. Madhavan, Kangana Ranaut, and Jimmy Shergill, explore the charm and humour of Kanpur. Set in real locations, the films’ authenticity and relatable characters stem from their grounded setting. Masaan (2015) weaves two parallel stories exploring class, corruption, love, and loss. Set against the Banaras ghats, the film captures the city’s essence and the tragedy of death.


Small towns as backdrops now resonate with audiences from the hinterlands. While smaller-town viewers relate to these stories, metro audiences may welcome their unpretentiousness as a break from fast-paced life. This cultural shift towards honest portrayals has also driven Bollywood’s de-urbanisation.


The prize goes to Kiran Rao’s hit Laapata Ladies (2024), set in a village and highlighting the cleverness of two small-town brides who are accidentally swapped because their identical red veils covered their faces. Over 100 years after such practices were common, the film proves this custom endures—brides still conceal faces, heads, shoulders, and torsos. If the face is hidden, how can the husband be blamed for picking the wrong bride?


(The author is a films researcher based on Kolkata.)

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