Trama

Inspired by true incidents, "Runway 34" revolves around Captain Vikrant Khanna played by Ajay Devgn, a flying prodigy, whose flight takes a mysterious course after take-off from an international destination.

Vikrant Khanna is the captain of a flight traveling from Dubai to Kochi with passengers and crew of 150 and co pilot Tanya Alburquerque. Vikrant has a hangover of overnight party and is bit restless, the flight takes a smooth journey but when it reaches nearby to its destination the weather turns out to be very bad due to heavy rains and cyclone.The aviation department asks Vikrant Khanna to divert the flight towards Bangalore, but Vikrant decides to take a chance not once but thrice to land at Kochi but fails. With the amount of fuel left on the flight Vikrant decides to land in Trivandrum but the aviation department fails to provide them the information that the cyclone has approached Trivandrum and all flights are diverted. When the flight reaches Trivandrum, the cyclone has already approached and there is no visibility at all while the flight is also low on fuel. In this situation Vikrant's only motive is to save everyone's life, and he manages to land the flight safely with a narrow escape from imminent crash.Vikrant turns a hero to flight passengers but soon an inquiry is conducted on him and his co-pilot, Tanya, headed by Narayan Vedant.—alex.mjacko@gmail.com

Captain Vikrant Khanna (Ajay Devgn) is a proud man with an arrogant attitude. He had a photographic memory, which was the reason for his overconfidence. Vikrant's daughter demanded that her father return home on her birthday, and he promised to do so. While he was relaxing in his hotel room, his friend called him and asked him to attend a party. Initially, Vikrant was not interested in it, but later, he decided to join in. Vikrant and his friend partied till early in the morning. He spent the entire day resting, and by evening he had a flight to catch. He met his first officer, Tanya Albuquerque (Rakul Preet Singh). While she admired him professionally, she too had to deal with his cocky attitude. They were flying from Dubai to Cochin for Skyline Airways.

Captain Khanna was tired after partying last night, so after taking off and setting the flight in auto-pilot mode, he went to sleep. Tanya was a bit surprised by his ways. He at first humiliated her (calls her Alber"cocky") while introducing her to the passengers and then behaved in an unprofessional way. The Captain requested a coffee from a cabin crew member. Though we only got to see it from behind, it seemed that he had added the Disprin he had requested to his drink. As he went back to his seat, he discussed with Tanya how there were some days when he loved his job, but at times, he also hated the job. When they were 45 minutes away from Cochin, the weather started acting up.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tripathi, an employee at the air traffic control unit in Cochin, went back to work after recently losing his daughter. He was responsible for communicating weather details to Skyline 777. He cautioned them that in Cochin, the visibility was low due to heavy rainfall. They were asked to divert from Cochin, but the Captain wanted to attempt landing since they were within the Minima. After a few failed attempts, they gave up on landing. The ATC informed them that another flight had safely landed in Trivandrum, and they could do the same. The weather was clear and safe for landing. Tanya did not agree with the plan; she knew that if the weather in Cochin was bad, then it could eventually be the same in Trivandrum. Instead, she felt that Bengaluru would be a safer option since the chances of weather issues would be way lower, and they had enough fuel to make that trip. The Captain did not pay heed to her advice; he asked her to learn about the weather in Trivandrum instead. Vikrant proposed that they attempt to land in Cochin once again since a trip to Trivandrum would leave them with enough fuel to give it another go. They attempted to approach the Cochin runway twice but ultimately gave up and diverted to Trivandrum.

In the meantime, all flights to Trivandrum were being stopped due to an approaching cyclone and low visibility. Mr. Tripathi was asked to relay the information, but he had a panic attack at the moment owing to his personal loss. He carried the paper that had the weather details with him as he was being carried out. As the change in route was announced to the passengers, an aviation journalist on the flight informed the other passengers that the alternative stop was Bengaluru and not Trivandrum, and that weather in Trivandrum can be equally bad. Passengers became agitated and demanded an answer from the pilot. The Captain made the public believe that he was aware of his decision and made a choice knowing the consequences. He promised to land everyone safely, particularly an elderly lady, Alma Asthana (Flora Jacob).

After winning over the trust of the passengers, Vikrant had to handle the bigger problem at hand. The ATC (Aamil Keeyan Kha) in Trivandrum was relaxed, thinking that after passing the weather information, no other flights would land in the area. But soon, they noticed that Skyline 777 had entered the radius. Tanya contacted the ATC; they were surprised to learn that the pilot was not informed about the weather conditions even after they had shared the information with Cochin ATC. They requested Skyline to reach Bengaluru, but they did not have enough fuel to do so. With the little fuel that they had, they could attempt to land one or two times. The ATC called for ambulances and fire engines since they believed a crash was inevitable.

The ATC asked them to land at runway 16. Captain Khanna tried to land, but he could not align the plane, and he could sense that the plane could crash. This Skyline 777 took off once again, but this time Vikrant demanded ATC to clear off runway 34. The ATC members were left confused and shocked since, according to them, the pilot was taking a major risk, and it was a terrible choice since the air pressure would hit the tail, pushing the flight further off the runway. The Captain announced "May Day," and he asked the passengers to take their position for impact. Vikrant pulled a cigarette out and placed it between his lips. He closed his eyes and tried to land the plane. He landed the flight with closed eyes and was able to press the brake at the point at which the runway ended (Trivandrum has a tabletop runway). He was upheld for saving the lives of 150 people. Even though the media celebrated him, the Directorate of Civil Aviation wanted to question Vikrant. The airline appoints Radhika Roy (Angira Dhar) as the lawyer for the pilots. They questioned him and Tanya and collected all things suspicious they found on the flight; a breath test was also set.

Narayan Vedant (Amitabh Bachchan) headed the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. He was known for getting to the truth, no matter how difficult it was. Even if little details missed the eyes of detectives, they could never get past the eyes of Narayan Vedant. When the owner of Skyline Airways, Nishant Suri (Boman Irani), learned that he was investigating the case, he knew it would be difficult to prove innocence. Nishant was worried about losing his stock value and asked Vikrant not to answer any questions during the interrogation. They had managed to keep his drug test report clean, but they did not want him to mess up any further.

When Vikrant and Tanya were summoned for interrogation by Narayan Vedant, they tried to provide as little detail as possible. But Narayan knew his ways; he wanted to conduct a lie detector test on Vikrant, and he agreed to cooperate. Even though Narayan asked him about the miniature gin bottle they found in the trash, he did not admit to being drunk, and the result showed that he was telling the truth. Unable to get much truth out of Vikrant, he started pressurizing Tanya to the point of breaking her down into tears. She admitted that Vikrant had landed with his eyes closed. This changed the case since it pointed toward how casually he did his job, risking the lives of 150 passengers. He further added that landing on runway 34 was a mistake due to the air pressure on the airplane's tail.

Vikrant had completely given up on himself and his career, but his wife Samaira (Aakanksha Singh) encouraged him to fight for himself. He could take the first step by confronting the news that was killing him. After landing the flight, Alma Asthana was taken to the hospital, but she eventually died of a heart attack. Vikrant blamed himself for her death, and he finally got the courage to reach out to her daughter and convey how he had tried his best to make the best out of the situation, and he shared his condolences.

The next day at court, when he noticed that Delilah Asthana (Rukhsana), her daughter, had come to support his cause, he felt confident enough to explain himself. He explained that he used to fly a private jet and would regularly land on runway 34. Therefore, he knew the runway to its core. He had a photographic memory, and that helped him to land on the 17th of August 2015. He closed his eyes not because he had given up but to remember the runway with the help of his memory. He demonstrated his skills in a stimulating environment. Narayan was surprised to see the pilot take all the right measurements even with his eyes closed. In the end, Mr. Tripathi at ATC Cochin lost his job as a result of his mistake that led to the mess. Vikrant and Tanya's licenses were revoked for three months. They received a short suspension since it was not just their fault but also the ATC and the weather.

After three months, Vikrant is back at the airport, ready to fly. When a young pilot asked him what to remember while flying, Vikrant told him to keep the passengers in mind. We also get to know that the mini gin bottle was emptied by a cabin crew member out of fear of a plane crash, and Vikrant kept her secret safe from the rest of the world. She was a single mother, and she was scared of losing her job by admitting the truth. Vikrant was sympathetic to her situation and managed the consequences well.

He entered the washroom and held the cigarette between his lips, and admired himself. He was back to being the proud man that he always was.