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Will Janhvi Kapoor starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl have a lasting impact on young minds?
While the hue and cry around Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl and IAF has been wide, many have debated if the script could have chosen a different narrative.
Bollywood has seen an unrest like no other in recent times. From star kids being trolled extensively on social media to films and film trailers being called out for nepotism, the anger and resentment among the audience is probably at an all-time high. While this resentment is a debatable topic for another day, the latest Hindi film to bear the brunt of it was Janhvi Kapoor's Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl. Based on the life of Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena, the Indian Air Force's first woman officer, the movie is a brave story of personal ambition, grit and fighting odds.
However, the film has found itself in the middle of a controversy after the Indian Air Force shot a letter to the Censor Board for its "undue negative portrayal". If you've watched the film, one would know that while Janhvi's character Gunjan gets all the support from her dad, it is her posting in Udhampur base that has faced some sharp criticism.
The IAF, which was a male-dominated field, began recruiting women around 1992. The film, too, revolves around this timeline and showcases how Gunjan often faced issues with her male counterparts. How she was often reminded that she was not tasked for the job or lacked the qualities to go head-to-head with other officers despite successfully completing her training. While the hue and cry has been wide, many have debated if the script could have chosen a different narrative.
Yes! Director Sharan Sharma and the film's writers could have sensitively balanced the topic of inclusion of women in the force. While there is no surprise that women could have faced hositility in the beginning, several pieces by ex-IAF personnel have written about how the work culture was more than inclusive and that the officer cadre of the armed forces lives by a concept of honour.
Probably shedding positive light on this fact could have been the highlight of this film. The film, however, has left a poor impression of the IAF and probably made audiences question its ability to handle gender inclusivity.
Having said that, will Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl have a lasting impact on the impressionable minds of millions of youngsters in the long run? Is it really dampening the IAF's image?
Given the ever evolving age that we live in, thanks to social media, the controversy will probably last a few weeks. Young women who want to carve their path in the IAF or Army or the Indian Navy will do so irrespective and not base their decision on a fictionalised version of a celebrated figure like Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena.
On the other hand, the film's takeaway from this could be a lesson for Hindi film industry's writers, directors and filmmakers to get facts in order before making content and using their creative license to make it interesting but keeping it real at the same time.
