“Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl,” starring Janhvi Kapoor in the title role, premiered on August 12.
New Delhi:
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to suspend the broadcast of the Netflix movie “Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl” after the center claimed it portrayed the Indian Air Force in a negative light.
The center alleged that the film, a biographical film about the life of India’s first female fighter pilot, had damaged the image of the Indian Air Force (IAF) because it showed that the force was “gender-biased.”
In response, Delhi High Court Judge Rajiv Shakdher asked why, if the center was concerned about the IAF’s image, it was not approaching the court before the film was released. Judge Shakdher further said that a court order could not be granted at this stage because the film was already available online.
However, the court has sought a response from Dharma Productions Private Limited (the film’s producers) and Netflix about the center’s concerns.
The court also said that former flight lieutenant Gunjan Saxena should also be a party to the lawsuit and sent him a notice, requesting his response as well.
The matter has been included for an additional hearing on September 18. The court requested that the IAF be removed from the stakeholder list, saying the government could carry this out on its own.
At today’s hearing, Additional Attorney General Sanjay Jain (ASG) argued that the film was never shown to a preview committee that had been established in accordance with 2013 Ministry of Defense guidelines.
“In the Air Force we give the highest regard to women. We have been ridiculed even in countries with which we do not have friendly relations. The image of the IAF has been crushed,” argued Jain.
Still from “Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl”
However, lead defender Harish Salve, who appeared on behalf of the producers, said the center’s statement lacked detail and was falsely extrapolated from some scenes.
“There is no organization that does not have gender problems. Everything that is said in the criticism is not slander. Have we not seen it (gender bias) in our profession? You cannot choose four scenes and say slander,” he said.
Lead attorney Neeraj Kishan Kaul, a Netflix representative, told the court that the script had been shared with the IAF in 2018 and that the film was shown in February.
Last month, the Delhi High Court also resolved a PIL (public interest litigation) seeking instructions to modify (or remove) dialogue and scenes that portrayed the IAF in a negative light.
Presented by an NGO called the Justice For Rights Foundation, the PIL claimed that some scenes and dialogue were factually incorrect and misleading, and sought to glorify the character of Gunjan Saxena.
The PIL further said that several male officers had been projected as misogynists.
Also last month, Gunjan Saxena wrote a blog for NDTV, in which he said: “Let me inform readers, with the utmost conviction and honesty, that although in my biopic cinematographic freedoms were exercised … which they did not miss or exaggerate. It was me”. , the real Gunjan Saxena. “
Ms. Saxena also defended the IAF, saying that as an organization “I was not into institutional discrimination, whether it was based on gender or something.”
However, she also noted that an individual’s reaction and experiences were different from those of an organization, and that she did face “prejudice and discrimination from a few individuals for being a woman.”
“Denying it completely speaks to a feudal mindset and undermines the value of female officers,” she wrote.
Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl, “starring Janhvi Kapoor in the title role, was released on the OTT Netflix platform on August 12.
With contributions from ANI, PTI
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