Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl
2020
Director: Sharan Sharma
Cast: Janhvi Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi

What’s the plot?

Gunjan Saxena- The Kargil Girl is a biopic on India’s first female combat zone pilot, who displayed exceptional valor during the 1999- Kargil war.

A daughter of an army officer, who grew up in Lucknow, dreaming of being a pilot, not because of some lofty patriotic fervor but simply for the love of flying, Gunjan Saxena was drafted in Indian Airforce as the first-ever female pilot. Facing opposition, condescension and discrimination, both at home as well as at work, Gunjan even broke down in spirit and left her job midway; but came back strongly thanks to her father’s unwavering support and encouragement.

In Kargil war, which was fought on the treacherous Himalayan mountain ranges, Indian Airforce played an important role with its daring sorties and rescue missions. Gunjan, flying a Cheetah helicopter, participated in many difficult rescue missions for the wounded soldiers.

Verdict

A young girl in the 1980s dreams of becoming a pilot and goes on to be a war hero, despite all the obstacles. The story of Gunjan Saxena- The Kargil Girl has all the ingredients for an engaging human drama. The sweetest spot of this film is how the typical patriarchic cultural prejudices Gunjan has to face at home from her mother and brother, and later from her colleagues and superiors in the Airforce are negated by the patriarch of her family- her father, who stands behind her, guiding and goading her to do what she loves! It is a father-daughter story first and an underdog overcoming overwhelming odds story later!

The Dharma Productions Netflix film ticks the right boxes in the technical side, too. The Airforce training and the Kargil war-sequences are superbly captured.

Janhvi Kapoor plays the titular role well, though at emotional high points, her rawness as an actress becomes apparent. Ayesh Raza Mishra as the traditional mother, Angad Bedi as the skeptical brother, Vineet Kumar Singh as the hostile Airforce instructor and Manav Vij as the supportive commanding officer are a good supporting cast. But the best performance of the film comes from that chameleon of an actor- Pankaj Tripathi. He plays Gunjan’s supportive soft-spoken father with a rare sensitivity.

Debutant director Sharan Sharma deserves a pat on his back for handling an emotionally and technically challenging subject with finesse. By avoiding melodrama and jingoism, he has passed this test with ‘flying’ colors!

Rating

3.5 stars