Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl Review: Justice done to story of 1st female combat pilot

Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is a biopic based on the life of Air Force pilot, Gunjan Saxena, the first Indian female pilot in combat. The film stars Janhvi Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Angad Bedi, Vineet Kumar Singh, and Manav Vij in main roles. The movie is directed by Sharan Sharma and written by Nikhil Mehrotra and Sharan Sharma. The film is available to stream on Netflix from August 12, 2020.

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The plot of the film

Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl shows the life of Gunjan Saxena, played by Janhvi Kapoor, who from an early age aspired to become a pilot. But her dreams were opposed by her own family, relatives, and society. Only her father, played by Pankaj Tripathi, supported her dream and kept encouraging her to achieve her goals.

However, the real challenges are faced by her once she is admitted into the air force academy. The film shows how she faces gender bias and sexism there. She misses training because the base does not have a place for her to change into overalls and is later forced to use a men’s washroom as there are none for women.

In spite of all the struggles and attitudes of fellow cadets towards her, she fares well and is able to become an officer. Gunjan Saxena is seen soaring high in the sky and proves herself as worthy of her post with her performance and skills. She plays one of the main roles during the Kargil War was to evacuate the wounded from Kargil, transport supplies, and assist in surveillance.

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What works for the film?

The movie sticks to the theme which was to give a flavour of feminism and show how the women in India faced challenges in the otherwise considered 'professions for men'. The director of the film, Sharan Sharma does not beat the trumpet of hyper-nationalism and has shown the reality in the film as close as possible. Another interesting thing in the movie was to see how the filmmakers did not try to glamourize the characters by showing them in body-hugging uniforms and stuck to the decorum followed in the defence forces, which showed a serious attempt by filmmakers to stick to realism. The acting of the cast is impressive. From Pankaj Tripathi to Vij, Angad Bedi, Vineet Singh, and Janhvi, all the actors showed sincerity in their performance. The cinematography and direction of the film are good along with the music and editing of the film.

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What does not work

While Pankaj Tripathi has done well in his part, the writers did not realise the potential of other cast members like Vineet Kumar Singh, Manav Vij, and Angad Bedi. Their characters could have been written with more depth and flavour. Janhvi Kapoor has done a decent job, however, her performance could have been better. After having given a good performance in Ghost Stories, she had set the bar higher for herself.

Final thoughts

Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl can be watched to know the story of the first female IAF combat pilot who created history by entering the war zone in the Kargil war. 

Rating 3/5

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