emergency exits.

Her life and heroism inspired the biopic Neerja, released in 2016 and directed
by Ram Madhvani.

Award Early life and education

Bhanot was born in Chandigarh, India, and brought up in Bombay (present-day Mumbai) in
a Punjabi family. She was the daughter of Harish Bhanot, a Bombay-based journalist, and Rama
Bhanot. She had two brothers, Akhil and AneeshBhanot. She received her early schooling at
Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School in Chandigarh. When the family moved to Bombay, she
continued her studies at Bombay Scottish School and then graduated from St. Xavier's College,
Bombay. It was in Bombay where she was first spotted for a modelling assignment which began
her modelling career. She was a huge fan of actor Rajesh Khanna and used to refer to quotes
from his films throughout her life.

Career

Bhanot applied for a flight attendant job with Pan Am, when in 1985 it decided to have an all
Indian cabin crew for its Frankfurt to India routes. Upon selection, she went to Miami, Florida
for training as a flight attendant, but returned as a purser. She also had a successful modelling
career simultaneously during her work at Pan Am.

Hijacking

Bhanot was the Senior Flight Purser on Pan Am Flight 73 flying from Bombay to the United
States, which was hijacked by four armed men on 5 September 1986 at Karachi airport
in Pakistan. The aircraft was carrying 380 passengers and 13 crew members. The terrorists
wanted to fly to Cyprus with the goal of freeing Palestinian prisoners in Cyprus. Bhanot was able
to alert the cockpit crew as soon as the hijackers boarded the plane, and as the plane was on
the tarmac, the three-member cockpit crew of pilot, co-pilot and the flight engineer fled from the
aircraft through an overhead hatch in the cockpit. As the senior-most cabin crew member,
Bhanot took charge of the situation inside the plane.

The hijackers were part of the Abu Nidal Organization, a Palestinian terrorist organization
backed by Libya; they were targeting Americans and American assets. In the early minutes of the
hijacking, they identified an Indian-American citizen, dragged him to the exit, shot him dead and

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