Take Off

Take Off is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language survival thriller film, based on the ordeal of Indian nurses in the city of Tikrit, Iraq, in 2014. The film is the directorial debut of editor Mahesh Narayan, starring Parvathy Thiruvothu , Kunchacko Boban , Fahadh Faasil and Divya Prabha. It is written by Mahesh Narayan and P. V. Shajikumar. The film was shot in various parts of Dubai and Kerala. Take Off was released on 24 March 2017, and received praise at the box office, winning the Silver Peacock - Special Jury Award for (Mahesh Narayan), and Silver Peacock for Best Actress (Parvathy) at the 48th IFFI. Parvathy also won her first Special Jury Mention at the 65th National Film Awards, her second Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress, and a second Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Malayalam. It was included in The Hindu's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade. Plot Sameera is a nurse in Kerala who is moving to Iraq for better salary. Her husband, Faizal and family members were not supportive of her wish to work to pillar her family who have taken loans for her nursing education and struggling to repay. They finally get divorced after their differences leaving her son Ibrahim under Faizal's care. Shaheed, a colleague from work understands all her problems and wishes to marry her. Though Sameera is initially hesitant about another marriage, the two get married before moving to Iraq. ‌They along with a group of 19 nurses of same hospital move to Iraq to join Tikrit Teaching College, which is an Iraqi Government Hospital. Moving to Iraq, they realize Iraq is no more a peaceful country as projected during interview time, with conflicts rising on daily basis. The doctors are over-strained with rise of casualties. Sameera's knowledge in Arabic helps her to communicate better with Arabic doctors and she leads the nurses' group in their new working environment and challenges. In mean time, she gets pregnant and needs to hide this from her first son, Ibrahim who is about to visit her for vacation. Surprisingly, Faizal also comes along to permanently hand over Ibrahim to Sameera due to issues in his family. Ibrahim finds it hard to accept Shaheed as his new step father and when he realizes that his mom has remarried, he runs out of their quarters only to see the city is now a major riot zone with pro-ISIS supporters uprising against Iraqi Central Government in the city. He is brought back to quarters by Sameera.