Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (2020)





Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl
(2020) on IMDb
5.5 /10

Director: Sharan Sharma
Running Time: 112 minutes
Genre: Biography, Drama

Synopsis: Story of real-life events of Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena, one of the women helicopter pilots from the first batch of women Indian Air Force (IAF)  trainee pilots.

Review
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl depicts the fictionalized version of the real-life events of Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena. She was one of the two women along with Flight Lieutenant Srividya Rajan to enter a war zone flying Cheetah helicopters.

Directed and Co-written by Sharan Sharma, this film is a lovely tale of a father-daughter relationship.  A daughter who is determined to achieve only one goal in her life i.e. becoming a pilot and a father who supports her in all her decisions. Pankaj Tripathi is fantabulous. His effortless dialogue delivery and genuine performance are some of the key highlights of the movie. Janhvi Kapoor in the lead role is the weakest part of the film and she needs to work a lot on her acting skills. Angad BediViineet KumarManav Vij, and Ayesha Raza as supporting cast deliver a wonderful performance and keep you attached to the film.

Sharan Sharma made his script in a way that most of the male characters discriminate against Gunjan and keep on humiliating and demotivating her. This is shown so many times in a repetitive manner that after some time it seems to be fake and has been added to the story just for the sake of the story. The editing is pretty amateur. The entire training part is shown in just one song and that selection procedure part was so funny.

The way the Indian Air Force has been portrayed is really objectionable.  IAF is not about male officers having parties every night, drinking, and dancing to item songs. I understand that it takes time for a change and it's not easy to change a tradition either. Gunjan Saxena herself in an interview said that she's grateful for all the support she got from her senior officers. But there are some people, who adopt the change quickly and the others take time but they do adopt it. Also, the situation has changed a lot with time and now it's not the same.

We have seen Flt LT. Srividya Rajan's photos with Flt LT. Gunjan Saxena in real life but the film chose to escape this part. It would have been better if they had shown some kind of conversation between them too. The Kargil part is limited to the last 20 min of the film. I was expecting it to be a little bit detailed presentation but still, the approach was practical.

The cinematography is magnificent. The aerial shots are shot very well and give goosebumps at times. The landscapes are beautifully captured. The shot where Gunjan is running towards the helicopter for causality evacuation was really inspiring.

Overall Gunjan Saxena, due to a lack of effective lead performance and an overdramatic version of her journey limits its actual powers. It's just a one-time watch but don't expect much. Let the audience decide whether this film inspires them or not.

Tell me in the comment what do you think of this film and will it inspire more female candidates, to join defence forces?


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