Newly Released Biopic ‘Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl’ Lands in Controversy

‘Gunjan Saxena- The Kargil Girl’ biopic based on the life of Indian Air Force Pilot Gunjan Saxena has done well at the box office and has received some pretty good reviews.  Janhvi Kapoor’s portrayal of Gunjan Saxena has been applauded. The biopic is topping the charts on Netflix. 

The story depicts the life of India’s first female officer in the Indian Air Force; a situation being totally new for the IAF too. The IAF had opened up positions for women officers during a period when society was not as progressive as it is now. 

The audience loved the film. Flt Lt Saxena says she has received “lots of messages from little girls saying that after watching the film, they too want to join the air force and become pilots.”

Despite all the good reviews, the film has been drawn into controversy for showing gender disparity and sexism in the Indian Air Force. The IAF has not taken this lightly. They’ve sent a letter to the makers of the film, Netflix and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) expressing their disappointment on what has been portrayed in the film. 

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One IAF spokesperson said, “It is a well-known fact that the Indian Air Force (IAF) has the largest number of women officers serving actively.”

“The IAF was the first to open all its branches to women officers, including combat roles in 2015. This wouldn't have been possible without an unbiased policy. Everything in the defence forces is done on merit alone.”

Gunjan’s own colleagues have spoken up on the issue. They revealed that they have faced subtle sexism and disparity in the IAF albeit not to the extent that has been shown in the film. 

Whether the facts were twisted or represented truthfully in the film, the best person to set the record straight would be Gunjan Saxena as the biopic is based on her experiences. 

In a blog post written for NDTV Gunjan revealed that she never faced any issue at the organizational level. She further explained that no two individuals are the same and some are able to adapt better than the other.

“Since the bias is not at an organizational level, the experiences of different woman officers would be different. To deny it completely speaks of a feudal mindset and undermines the grit of women officers”, she added.

Gunjan Saxena further wrote, “I also combated the difficulties of prejudice and discrimination at the hands of a few individuals for being a woman. But since it was never at the organizational level, I got equal opportunities all the time.”

To sum it all up, gender disparity and sexism did exist but for Gunjan it was never at the organizational level but in the hands of certain individuals. So, it was a personal experience in the wide set-up. Completely denying that “gender disparity” and “sexism” never existed, as Gunjan puts it, would only represent a “feudal mindset.”