Movie Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl Shows ‘Negative Portrayal’ of Indian Air Force, Letter Issued To Censor Board

Shikha Chaurasia
Pune, August 13, 2020: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has written a letter to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) against its “undue negative portrayal” in the movie Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl. It is a Netflix Original film which released yesterday.

The film stars Jhanvi Kapoor who plays the role of Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena who was the first IAF woman pilot in the 1999 Kargil conflict. She was the first woman to fly a combat aircraft and rescue many injured Indian soldiers in 1999. She was also awarded the Shaurya Chakra Award for her bravery.

However, the Air Force has felt that certain scenes and dialogues in the movie portray the IAF in a negative light which indulges in gender bias. In the letter to the CBFC which has also been sent to Netflix and Dharma Productions, it is written, “Dharma Productions had agreed to represent IAF with authenticity and make all efforts to ensure that the film helps to inspire the next generation of IAF officers.” But it was observed that “In the aim to glorify the screen character of ‘Gunjan Saxena’, M/s Dharma Productions presented some situations that are misleading and portray an inappropriate work culture especially against women in the IAF.”

The IAF has also said, “The organization is gender neutral and has always provided an equal opportunity to both male and female personnel.”

It has also stated in the letter that Dharma Productions was “informed about the objectionable portion of the movie and was advised to delete/modify the same. However, the production house has not deleted the scenes but it proposed a media plan in the run-up to the release and insert a disclaimer in the movie. In view of the above, the issue of grant of No Objection Certificate (NOC) for the release of the movie will be considered after deleting or suitably modifying the scenes in order to cater to the observations mentioned.”