Gunjan Saxena Review: The Kargil Girl biopic of the Indian Air Force’s first female combat pilot, out on Netflix isn’t as like a TOP GUN or an Uri: The Surgical Strike, but its a beautiful tale of Feminism, bravado and courage to succeed. What’s missing is the adrenaline pumping action one would expect from a war kind of movie. The movie also makes the audience proud of the Air Force.
The story is about a dream , an aspiration of young Gunjan Saxena. The Lucknow-born Saxena, played by Janhvi Kapoor, is sky-struck from an early age, fighting for a window seat with her older brother (Bedi) during a flight, pulling away from the conventional route of good girls getting a degree-and-getting married, and being buoyed by a supportive father (Tripathi), in her determination to become a pilot. for a window seat with her older brother (Bedi) during a flight, pulling away from the conventional route of good girls getting a degree-and-getting married, and being buoyed by a supportive father (Tripathi), in her determination to become a pilot.
Gunjan Saxena Review: It is all about how you turn your dreams into a reality?
Gunjan’s father, an army officer, was the only one who supported her dream of becoming a pilot. Despite topping her class in school, she frets about telling her parents that her future lies not in some man’s kitchen, but in the skies. The moment when she breaks the news to her folks could almost be mistaken for her coming out as gay — there is gossip among the relatives, her brother adopts the ‘log kya kahenge’ attitude, and Gunjan’s mother even proposes visiting an astrologer for advice on how to ‘cure’ her.
When Gunjan gets into the air force academy he joy is short-lived, because it is here that she truly experiences the difference being a HE and a SHE.
She misses training because the base doesn’t even have a place for her to change, as the academy chief says, it was never meant to be a woman’s academy. She is forced to relieve herself in a men’s washroom because there isn’t one for women. Nearly all of her fellow cadets refuse to participate in sorties with her, for fear of being outclassed.
Her superior (an irredeemable man played by Vineet Kumar Singh) subjects her to further indignity by ordering her to arm-wrestle another cadet, displaying the sort of narrow-minded male mentality that the film repeatedly calls out. She loses, of course, but has the spirit to confront him in a later scene. “Main yahan helicopter udaane aayi hoon ya helicopter uthaane?” she says.
While Janhvi Kapoor is work in progress the supporting cast is solid, even if defined only by what it can do for Gunjan. Tripathi, as the real wind beneath her wings, is too good an actor to be hidden, but everyone else, including Bedi who is given clunky lines around worrying about ‘Gunjan’s ‘suraksha’, Vij, as a senior officer who backs her, or Vineet Kumar Singh, a co-pilot who moves from hostility to like, could have been written with more depth, and flavour.
Watch Gunjan Saxena Trailer Here
The film is based on the real-life story of Gunjan Saxena, India’s first female Air Force Officer to fly in a combat zone during the 1999 Kargil War. Along with Flight Lieutenant Srividya Rajan, she was tasked with casualty evacuation during the war. Saxena is also the first woman to receive the Shaurya Chakra award.
The story by itself is in no want of bravado or inspiration. The challenge, therefore, was always going to be how this cinematic re-telling will pan out. Added to that was the risk of over dramatisation. Helmed by Sharan Sharma, who has written and adorned this story along with Nikhil Mehrotra, this incredible feat gets the taut and stirring treatment it deserves.
Although the film is about its central character Gunjan, the most poignant bits are those involving her family. It is as much centred around Pankaj Tripathi, who is simply fabulous as the warm, wise and always encouraging father protective of his daughter’s dreams. Some of the most impactful lines are almost whispered by Tripathi in his trademark style, but they reverberate with their importance. Less is always more in his case and the father-daughter moments will leave many of us teary-eyed.
If you love flying, and always wanted to know how to pursue your dream then this movie is enjoyable. It is definitely not a war action movie.