Against the beautiful locale of Lausanne, Switzerland, a 1985 make Neoplan N216 H Jetliner has made an appearance in the Hindi movie, ‘Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge’, starring Salman Khan and Karisma Kapoor. The 12 m long two-axle, two-door tourist coach is a part and parcel of the plot that has Karisma Kapoor playing a lead role against Khan, and is brought up by her three eccentric uncles (played by Om Puri, Paresh Rawal and Anupam Kher), almost. If its first appearance in down town Lausanne is with Kapoor and Khan alighting it as part of a group of Indian tourists out on a vacation, having accidentally met only recently in the town, the vehicle makes a strong appearance later as the group heads for another sightseeing trip. Accidently meeting each other on the trip (and in the hotel), the plot involves Kapoor’s flight from her home as her uncles pressurise her to marry a boy of their choice. The idea of escape has been given to her by her nanny who is fired by her uncles and goes to work with the Khan’s family (a development that can be found fit only in a Hindi movie perhaps!). As the tourist group alights from the Jetliner in Lausanne, Khan begins wooing Kapoor in much earnest. Others in the group support, including the tour guide played by Johny Lever.
The other and longer appearance the Jetliner N216 H makes in the movie is when the group heads on yet another sightseeing tour. While Khan’s efforts to woo her seem to only create hurdle for Kapoor, she is separated from the group and the bus as she heads for a snack joint. Khan follows her. He rescues her when she makes contact with some bad people. The two fall in love and manage to unite with their group once again. It is at this juncture that the Jetliner makes an appearance once again. Before the two can marry, the duo should win over Kapoor’s three eccentric uncles. They are successful and live happily ever after. Though the Hindi movie was released in 2000, the Jetliner bus featured in it was launched in 1981. It was introduced as a mid-range modular design that would draw from the Cityliner. Replacing the highly successful Typ Hamburg, the vehicle made greater use of plastic materials reinforced with fiberglass. Offered in ‘tourist’ and ‘superline’ guise, it provided high level of comfort with the help of a brand new air suspension with an independent wheel front axle.
Flaunting a large vertical windscreen over the two piece windscreen of the Cityliner, the Jetliner’s self-supporting lattice structure accommodated different makes of engines in different markets. These included Mercedes-Benz (Mercedes-Benz OM 366 LA and Mercedes-Benz OM 352 A) and MAN (MAN D0826 LOH 02) for Europe, and Detroit Diesel for the USA. Placed at the rear, the engines produced between 192 hp and 280 hp. They were mated to a six-speed manual transmission and retarder/intarder combination. Built at Neoplan’s Pilsting plant, Germany, the vehicles had one front row for driver and hostess, and 14 rows of tandem seats (2×2) aft of it. Equipped with ABS and measuring 2.5 m in width, the coach had an ‘auto’ air-conditioner. As per the customisation level, the bus had a GVW of either 12- or 16-tonnes.
