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
