Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl (Hindi; 2020)
Netflix
This film was stream via the OTT (over-the-top) media with a bang. First, the Indian Air Force (IAF) objected to the film depiction of the force being one filled with masculine toxicity and bullying of its officers of the fairer sex. Next came the netizens' loud call for the boycott of movies made by offsprings of movie stars. This follows the alleged suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput and the accusations hurled against the Bollywood mafias of nepotism involving children of stars.
In my opinion, this offering is just riding on the wave of nationalism that seems to have hit the world over. With the power of artistic licence, the story writers have given masala to spice up the saga of a lone wolf, or rather lamb, in a sea of wolves. As predicted in tales of this nature, the protagonist, despite all the barrage hurled along her path, she comes out smelling of roses. From this angle, the story seems to motivate young girls with ambitions to serve in the forces to realise that brawn is not all that is needed to swim against the tide, sometimes one just needs tenacity.
This movie tells the story of Gunjan Saxena who fought against the stereotype to become one of the first female officers in the IAF to go war. She was eventually awarded for her courageous works during the Kargil War in 1999. The IAF stated its objection against the depiction of discrimination of its female officers. There were also factual errors and twisting of events which may actually cause an officer to be court-marshalled. Saxena was not really the first female officer in the IAF. Saxena also had a fellow female officer in her batch who was not mentioned at all. In reality, it is not a biopic but stretched far away from the real story.
Again, the narrative just goes well with the oft-repeated general trend of the world; that we are living in a toxic world that discriminates the weak, the minorities and the marginalised. Any news is good publicity for the producers. Objection or accusations of nepotism is all the same. More curious viewers just throng to peek.
Just for curiosity, the world's first female fighter pilot is actually Turkish. As part of Kamal Mustafa Ataturk's modernisation programme of Turkey after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, woman empowerment was the order of the day. He banned the burqa and encouraged women to study. One of his four adopted daughters, Sabiha Gökçen, went on to become the first female fighter pilot.
She went on to become a somewhat controversial figure later. She was orphaned during the tumultuous times of Turkey when they went through brutal civil war and swapping of citizens (of Greeks and Albanians) at their border. They were rumours that she could an Albanian, hence defeating the scream for 'Turkey for Turks' at that time. Her renewed assault on the Kurds became a sore point when Erdoğan wanted to mend his relationship with Kurdistan in 2011, threatening her iconic status in Turkish history.
Netflix
This film was stream via the OTT (over-the-top) media with a bang. First, the Indian Air Force (IAF) objected to the film depiction of the force being one filled with masculine toxicity and bullying of its officers of the fairer sex. Next came the netizens' loud call for the boycott of movies made by offsprings of movie stars. This follows the alleged suicide of Sushant Singh Rajput and the accusations hurled against the Bollywood mafias of nepotism involving children of stars.
In my opinion, this offering is just riding on the wave of nationalism that seems to have hit the world over. With the power of artistic licence, the story writers have given masala to spice up the saga of a lone wolf, or rather lamb, in a sea of wolves. As predicted in tales of this nature, the protagonist, despite all the barrage hurled along her path, she comes out smelling of roses. From this angle, the story seems to motivate young girls with ambitions to serve in the forces to realise that brawn is not all that is needed to swim against the tide, sometimes one just needs tenacity.
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| The real Saxena and the celluloid form. |
Again, the narrative just goes well with the oft-repeated general trend of the world; that we are living in a toxic world that discriminates the weak, the minorities and the marginalised. Any news is good publicity for the producers. Objection or accusations of nepotism is all the same. More curious viewers just throng to peek.
 |
| Sabiha Gökçen with Ataturk. |
She went on to become a somewhat controversial figure later. She was orphaned during the tumultuous times of Turkey when they went through brutal civil war and swapping of citizens (of Greeks and Albanians) at their border. They were rumours that she could an Albanian, hence defeating the scream for 'Turkey for Turks' at that time. Her renewed assault on the Kurds became a sore point when Erdoğan wanted to mend his relationship with Kurdistan in 2011, threatening her iconic status in Turkish history.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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