The Indian Air Force has written to the Central Board of Film Certification complaining about the ‘undue negative portrayal’ of IAF in the movie, Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl. The Air Force sent the later to the board, Dharma Productions and Netflix. It stated that as per the initial understanding, “Dharma Productions had agreed to represent Indian Air Force (IAF) with authenticity and make all efforts to ensure that the film helps to inspire the next generation of IAF officers.”
After seeing the trailer the IAF felt that “certain scenes and dialogues in the movie and its trailer, which was forwarded to this office for viewing, have been found to portray the IAF in an undue negative light.”
The letter curated by IAF was later accessed by ANI. It also read “In the aim to glorify the screen character of ‘Ex-Fir Lt Gunjan Saxena’, M/s Dharma Productions presented some situations that are misleading and portray an inappropriate work culture especially against women in the IAF.”
Moreover in the communication, IAF has ensured that the organisation does not discriminate between males and females and has always given an equal chance to both male and female personnel. The body has also annexed the summary of the dialogues and scenes which they found objectionable due to the representation of incorrect gender bias. It is said that Karan Johar’s Dharma production was informed about the portions that seemed objectionable and they were advised to change or delete them. But, the scenes have not been deleted but instead proposed “a media plan in the run-up to the release and insert a disclaimer in the movie.”
The IAF says that mere media plans and a disclaimer would not be enough to avoid the incorrect facts and presentation about the IAF. Keeping this view, the release of the movie will be considered after deleting or modifying the scenes. The Air Force is the first among the three services to grant commission to women officers in branches apart from the medical branch. Now women are allowed for all branches in the IAF including Fighter stream of Flying Branch.
This movie revolves around real-life Gunjan Saxena who was the first woman pilot from IAF who was a part of the Kargil War in 1999. She was the first woman to fly in combat and played a very important role to rescue injured soldiers during the war.
