Gunjan Saxena (2020) [Movie Review]

 

Dir: Sharan Sharma

Starring: Jhanvi Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Angad Bedi

Dur: 1 hr 52 mins

Genre: Biography

Rating: 6.5/10

The film aims at depicting the tough life of India’s first lady Air Force pilot: Gunjan Saxena. Gunjan served in the Kargil War of 1999. She came from a family that had patriotic blood as her father was an Army officer. Her brother also subsequently joined the army. Gunjan, uncharacteristic of most Indian girls, dreamt of becoming a pilot from her childhood. She was very intelligent and wanted with all her being to fly a plane and rule the skies. The film flippantly portrays how a young Gunjan prepares herself to achieve her goal by wearing goggles all the time in order to protect her eyes. The film could have done without such silliness but it is tolerable. Besides the young actress playing young Gunjan is adorable.

The film slightly exaggerates things in order to dramatize the story and while this adds to the drama it does not shed kind light on the reality of the armed forces. Although there was a hue and cry by the armed forces regarding their portrayal in the film, I don’t hesitate to believe that there was certainly quite some truth in the reel portrayal. Gunjan is the only female selected from a class of candidates which is definitely fishy all the more since the ad specifically stated that this was a selection camp for female aspirants. She however, not the only woman in the training academy but is the only woman to be invested as an officer. One can imagine the natural difficulty she faced while being the only woman in an otherwise male unit. Woman officers from the Indian Air Force (IAF) spoke out against the film saying that it unduly heightened male-female tension. The IAF was the first branch to open itself up to women which is an achievement in itself. But that does not take much away from the film which in my opinion, attempts to drive a knife through patriarchy in the Indian mindset and system.

Jhanvi is unsurprisingly a failure. Her facial expression, reminiscent of Abhishek Kapoor vary from resting face to slightly surprised to sad resting face which basically looks very similar. Pankaj, who plays Gunjan’s father is the real treat. Karan Johar who produced this film needs to learn his lesson and stop encouraging nepotism. I wouldn’t call the film bad despite Jhanvi’s obvious failure to do a standard job. It is quite an encouraging film and the ending holds the power to wet your face. It’s really worth a watch as a family.

Official Trailer

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