Gunjan Saxena - Movie Review

Over the recent past, Bollywood has churned out quite a few movies with the armed forces in the back drop, kindling a fervour of ‘josh’ in a country that suddenly turned desh-bhakt over the last few years. Debutante director Sharan Sharma’s Netflix release, Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl, surprises you here. While the name sounds like yet another story of valour and patronization of our armed forces, this Janhvi Kapoor-starrer, on the contrary, is the story of a woman trying to break through a man’s world.

The movie traces the journey of a young girl, Gunjan, born to an Army Officer in the 70s. Raised in a patriarchal society, Gunjan’s dreams and ambitions are given a flight by her extremely supportive father, Lt Col Anup Saxena (Pankaj Tripathi). In a world where misogyny is normalised and expects girls to be ‘controlled’, Gunjan grows up with the sole aim of being in the skies – she wants to be a pilot! And the writers and production designers ensure that we know this well – her world revolves singularly around airplanes and being airborne. She wears aviators as a kid even while watching movies, wind chimes in her room are the shape of airplanes and she never misses to run when a plane passes over. She is obsessed about being a pilot! Cut to a few years later, a 21-year old Gunjan (Janhvi Kapoor) becomes the first woman to be a commissioned as a pilot in the Indian Air Force.

Now, this is where the movie surprises by not becoming a war film, which it could have easily become. It remains Gunjan’s story – her trials & tribulations through her initial days in the forces. In a crucial scene, we see a nervous Gunjan tell her dad she only wanted to fly and doubts her ‘desh bhakti’. To this, her dad brilliantly replies – Imaandaari se karo toh yeh bhi desh bhakti hai. She takes this as her motto and puts in her heart and soul to beat all odds – from not finding women’s restrooms to struggling as the lone female pilot surrounded by men. The tough portrayal of IAF instructors and training feels real and believable. Even Gunjan’s role in the Kargil War is shown subtly, without unnecessary heroism until the sequence in the climax.

While it steers clear of war film clichés (there are no ‘How’s the josh’ moments, thankfully) and jingoism, the writers Nikhil Mehrotra and Sharan Sharma resort to some unnecessary cinematic liberties. While it is understandable that society in the 80s-90s was conservative and expected girls to be a certain way, the negative portrayal of the Air warriors was uncalled for and was unconvincing. The men in the armed forces are known to be extremely chivalrous, dignified and are taught to respect women. But the men in the movie have been written as misogynists and opportunists, just to add to cinematic masala to Gunjan’s struggles. Now, this is a story based on real-life and I am not sure how much of it has been altered for cinematic effect, but as someone who has first hand experience of IAF, this negative portrayal seemed unnecessary and far-fetched.

Keeping the cinematic liberties aside, the other cinematic tropes have been used effectively – Music by Amit Trivedi compliments well and the camera work by Manush Nandan recreates a world of the 80s and 90s well. In terms of the performances, Manav Vij as the commanding officer is the only one who looks convincing as an IAF pilot. Both Vineet Kumar Singh and Pankaj Tripathi, playing officers from the Armed forces, fall slightly short of looking dynamic and convincing as officers. Pankaj Tripathi, as the soft-spoken father shines in his father-daughter scenes with Gunjan. In a scene during the latter half when Gunjan calls her father, see his glittering eyes filled with pride – a testimony of his acting prowess. Angad Bedi looks the part as an Army officer, but gets a one-tone character. As Gunjan’s elder brother, he is only pulling her down, trying to protect her and kill her ambitions in the bargain. In the titular role, Janhvi Kapoor makes a good attempt but succeeds only to a certain extent. Like I said in my blog on ‘Dhadak’, she falters when she is required to give a wide range of emotions. She is fine as the bubbly daughter and the shaken sole-woman-among-the-men, but cannot convey Gunjan’s angst and frustration effectively. See her in a crucial outburst scene with her fellow officer - she tries hard to appear effective but falls short, especially in dialogue delivery.

All said and done, Gunjan Saxena is an inspiring story. The fact that it steers clear of unnecessary jingoism and remains a tale of a woman breaking the glass ceiling, is commendable. If you ignore the slightly negative portrayal of men in the armed forces, Gunjan Saxena makes for a good watch.

My Rating – 3/5