The real Gunjan Saxena has reacted in the series to her biopic, Sharjan Sharma’s Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, saying that she is trying to erase the dust after “some people have tried to distort the basic values of my existence and identity”.
The Janhvi Kapoor film has been in turmoil with the Indian Air Force (IAF), which wrote a letter to the Censor Board objecting to the ‘disproportionately negative’ image. A number of IAF officers, including Gunjan’s classmate, Flight Lieutenant Sreevidya Rajan (retd), have claimed that facts are being ‘distorted’ by the filmmakers.
Read also: IAF pilot who served with Gunjan Saxena kills film for ‘peddling reading’, gives strict advice to Janhvi Kapoor
Retired wing manager Namrita Chandi, in an open letter, had also accused the filmmakers of ‘lips of peddling’. She wrote, “Srividya Rajan was the first lady pilot to fly to Kargil – not Gunjan. Although, I’m sure Srividya has no complaints about this credit being taken from her. ”
In her response, Gunjan wrote on NDTV, ‘Let me inform readers with utmost conviction and honesty that even though cinematic freedoms were exercised in my biopic by the filmmakers, which I did not miss or exaggerate, the real Gunjan Saxena. I admit breathlessly that I still have more of an iron will and resolution than was portrayed in the film. ”
The retired flight lieutenant wrote that it was “absolutely disappointing to see a small group of people trying to escape this hard-earned reputation with nonsensical rants,” because she mentioned the many firsts in her name. The list included first in the order of merit during basic and helicopter training, the first woman to fly in a combat zone, the first ‘BG’ among women helicopter pilots and the first female officer to undergo the jungle and snow survival course.
She also took a count at an article claiming that she was not the first female pilot in the Kargil War and that the film is ‘peddling read’. “Well, for all of you who read this absurd propaganda and rant about ‘peddling or reading’, there is a humble subject. The author, who claims to protect the image of the IAF for whatever interests or hidden agenda, doubts the authenticity of the Air Force’s position in 1999 after the war in Kargil. ‘
Regarding the conversation about the way gender inequality is portrayed in the film, Gunjan wrote, ‘When I met there was no organization discrimination. But yes, individually no two people are the same and some individuals adapt to change better than others. Since the bias is not at the organizational level, the experiences of different female officers would be different. To deny it speaks fully of a feudal mindset and endorses the madness of women Officers. I have also fought the difficulties of pre- and post-discrimination at the hands of a few individuals to be women. But since it was never on an organizational level, I got equal opportunities all the time. ”
They also responded to the criticism of a senior journalist on the film. ‘It’s a creative license, that’s certainly not with me, but with the makers of the film. But the intent of the film was to inspire people to pursue their dreams with hope and positivity, the way I hunted mine. The whole storyline was based on the theme of my journey, how my dreams came true. As I understand it, the film was never meant to be a documentary about the war in Kargil. ”
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