Sharan Sharma’s Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is bookended by scenes of war. However, the real battle takes place in the portions that li...
Sharan Sharma’s Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is bookended by scenes of war. However, the real battle takes place in the portions that lie in between.
The more compelling sequences in the biopic of the first woman Indian Air Force officer to serve in combat emerge not from the skies but in the barracks. Here, Gunjan (Janhvi Kapoor) must prove that she is as capable and brave as the next man. Heads turn when Gunjan walks down the corridors of the air force base where she is posted. The place isn’t built for women – there isn’t even a separate toilet beyond the one in her room. Gunjan’s flight commander Dileep (Vineet Kumar Singh) warns her male batchmates to behave themselves in her presence because “Miss Badlav” is here. Dileep doesn’t mean it as a compliment.
Dileep is only the latest of Gunjan’s detractors. Before she wears the air force colours, Gunjan has to overcome doubt within and without. The naysayers include her brother Anshuman (Angad Bedi), himself a soldier, and her mother Kirti (Ayesha Raza Mishra). But Gunjan’s father Anup (Pankaj Tripathi) is loving and progressive and emerges as her strongest ally. Like the coach of a promising athlete, Anup emerges as the wind beneath...
