Captain Smit Machchhar’s act of courage has drawn praise from Malayalam filmmaker and actor Santosh Pandit, who has questioned the silence of Malayali film stars and prominent cultural leaders over the incident. In a social media post on October 3, Pandit praised the valiant Captain while asking why prominent personalities in Kerala had failed to publicly acknowledge or salute his bravery.
Politicians are afraid of losing the vote bank. Malayalam media say ‘Oman Pilot’. They would not say his name or other details, again to keep ‘some people’ in good humour. None of the prominent film personalities and cultural leaders say anything regarding such a serious incident. They ignore our national hero. No salute, no thanks! Why?
They do not have to worry about the vote bank like the politicians. Still, they keep mum.
Santosh Pandit quoted the CNN report, which said that the Omani terrorist pilot was Hamam Al-Hammami (30). His father is Omani and his mother is Syrian. He is an Omani citizen.
It is reported that his mother imparted extremist ideas to him. He studied science and passed the examinations, scoring high marks. He worked in Oman Air for seven years. However, he was dropped from flight training in 2024, thanks to his extremist stands.
After some time, he lodged an apology and started to fly the plane again. He was dropped from there in February 2025 when he created further troubles there.
Al-Hammami joined Royal Air Morocco in June 2025. He was sacked from there in December. He joined FlyDubai in January 2026.
After joining FlyDubai, he expressed his desire to fly to Israel. He had been waiting since January and materialised his plan by the end of September.
Now, the investigation is going on into whether he has had any truck with Iran. Presently, he is in the custody of Saudi Police.
Santosh Pandit concluded his post by praying for the speedy recovery of Smit Machchhar.
What Santosh Pandit has raised is a matter of concern. He exposes the hide-and-seek mindset of the ‘cultural leaders and stars’ in Kerala.
