Sonam Kapoor starrer 'Neerja' isn't India's first major tribute to valiant attendant of Pan Am flight 73, Neerja Bhanot. Ghal Kalan village (Moga Tehsil, Punjab) has had a small memorial to the hijacked flight and Neerja, the Ashok Chakra awardee, who saved over 300 lives aboard the flight hijacked on September 5, 1986.
The memorial was created by 43 year old Manjit Singh Gill, a sculptor who left his government job create statues of “inspirational personalities”, including former president Abdul Kalam, Milkha Singh, Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Dr B R Ambedkar and even victims of the Air India Kanishka crash of 1985.
The buzz around the recently released movie named after the flight attendant has increased footfall around the memorial.Gill told the Indian Express: "I never imagined that after the film, people would come down to my village and ask for the way to Neerja’s memorial. It is the only memorial in the entire nation built in her memory. I was really inspired by the sacrifice of this young woman when I decided to make her statue in 2013."
24/02/16 Kunal Anand/Times of India
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The memorial was created by 43 year old Manjit Singh Gill, a sculptor who left his government job create statues of “inspirational personalities”, including former president Abdul Kalam, Milkha Singh, Mahatma Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Dr B R Ambedkar and even victims of the Air India Kanishka crash of 1985.
The buzz around the recently released movie named after the flight attendant has increased footfall around the memorial.Gill told the Indian Express: "I never imagined that after the film, people would come down to my village and ask for the way to Neerja’s memorial. It is the only memorial in the entire nation built in her memory. I was really inspired by the sacrifice of this young woman when I decided to make her statue in 2013."
24/02/16 Kunal Anand/Times of India
