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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.

The Enduring Allure of Disaster Movies

As we mark the 50th anniversary of ‘The Towering Inferno’ (1974) - an iconic genre-defining film about a mythical, glamorous 135-floor San Francisco skyscraper, touted as the tallest and safest in the world, caught in horrific blaze owing to sub-standard construction. Featuring a star-studded cast that included Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, William Holden, Faye Dunaway and Fred Astaire among others, the film melded stunning special effects with a palpable sense of dread, becoming an archetype of a genre that offered a broad commentary on the fragility of modern life.


In the film, the grand opening of the skyscraper, designed to symbolize progress, devolves into chaos as a fire ignites, trapping hundreds inside.


Newman’s architect and McQueen’s fire chief, coming from different classes of society, become unlikely heroes, embodying the spirit of collaboration essential to overcoming disaster. Their characters reflect a society yearning for unity amidst disarray - a theme that echoes throughout the disaster genre. ‘Inferno’ ends on a sobering note, particularly germane to frequent fires in Mumbai’s high-rises, when the McQueen’s fire chief, remarking on the death toll, wearily tells Newman’s architect: “We were lucky today. The body count was only 200. One of these days 10,000 people are going to die in one of these firetraps.”

Hollywood’s ‘disaster movie’ genre really kicked into high gear in the 1970s with the commercial and critical success of ‘Airport’ (1970) based on Arthur Hailey’s smash bestseller.


‘Airport’ became a foundational disaster film, weaving together the tense stories of passengers and crew grappling with a bomb threat on an international flight amid a snowstorm. The film pioneered a genre defined by high-stakes scenarios, interpersonal drama, and technical suspense, inspiring a wave of disaster movies throughout the decade.


It garnered ten Oscar nominations despite being disdained by lead actor Burt Lancaster as “the worst piece of junk ever made.”


‘The Poseidon Adventure’ (1972) further solidified this trend, showcasing the triumph of the human spirit amidst the chaos of a capsized luxury liner. The film, with an ensemble cast led by Gene Hackman, was another smash box-office success, bringing to the fore an important genre name –producer Irwin Allen, who would later make ‘Inferno.’


The disaster movie craze continued with ‘Earthquake’ (1974) which saw Charlton Heston head an ensemble cast and bringing, with immersive realism amplified by Sensurround technology, the devastating impact of a massive quake hitting Los Angeles.


While critics panned many of these films as pure hokum with scant character development, they illustrated, at a basic level, how ordinary individuals responded to extraordinary challenges. The formula was straightforward yet effective: gather a constellation of A-list stars, introduce a life-threatening scenario, and let the action unfold against a backdrop of impending doom, replete with stunning special effects.

By 1980, the genre was fizzling out with Allen’s grandiose, and progressively sillier projects. His ‘When Time Ran Out’ about a volcano, was an infamous bomb. Critic Leonard Maltin dubbed it “When Ideas Ran Out” or “The Blubbering Inferno.”


This was also the year when Bollywood took its leap into the disaster genre with ‘The Burning Train’ - our homegrown version of ‘The Towering Inferno.’


The sociological aspect behind disaster films is fascinating. They emerged in a period marked by societal upheaval, economic uncertainty and rising consciousness around environmental issues. They provided a cathartic release, allowing audiences to confront their fears in a controlled environment. As viewers, we are invited not only to witness calamity but also to consider our roles within it.


Despite a slump in the 1980s, the genre saw a revival from the mid-1990s with films like ‘Twister’ and ‘Volcano,’ climaxing with ‘Titanic’ (1997) which snared 11 Academy Awards, proving the viability of the disaster movie.


The allure of disaster films endures, tapping into contemporary anxieties like climate change and pandemics. For instance, ‘The Cassandra Crossing’ (1977), a thriller about a plague-stricken train, eerily resonated with the Wuhan lab leak theory, echoing public unease about governmental transparency that resurfaced during COVID-19.


In a way, disaster films provide a cathartic release, a way to process the unpredictability of life by witnessing the worst unfold.

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