Gunjan Saxena is a movie about the first IAF officer whose contribution to the Kargil war was remarkable. The film depicts the journey of Gunjan and how she proved her mettle. Directed by debutant Sharan Sharma, the movie also stars Pankaj Tripathy, Angad Bedi, Ayesha Raza Mishra, Vineet Kumar, and Riva Arora.
The movie is inspired by the true story of the first woman IAF officer flying into the warzone. The film makes it clear by the disclaimer that the IAF promotes equality in the skies. Today there are 1625 women IAF officers in the Indian Air Force, but this scenario was different in 1994.
The movie starts with the scene of Janhvi Kapoor going towards her chopper to carry out the mission. The title of the movie depicts that the film is about the journey of Gunjan Saxena before she was given a chance to serve the country. We all are very proud of Gunjan Saxena because of her valuable contribution to the Kargil war. But in this movie, the director has focused on the battle she fought before serving the country. The film is not a hardcore patriotic like Kesari, but it is about the social conditioning of women. Women have to fight and cross a lot of hurdles before entering into a battlefield. It’s not like you won’t feel patriotic in the movie at all, the last few scenes will give you the feeling of patriotism at peak.
Director has shown casual sexism and misogynistic behavior around an ambitious woman who wanted to touch heights. And that’s what makes the movie quite fresh and different among other patriotic films.
The journey of Gunjan is shown very nicely as it is based upon extensive discussions with real-life IAF officer Gunjan Saxena. At some beginning scenes, the movie takes us to flashbacks in the year 1984, where Gunjan sees the cockpit for the first time, which makes her taken aback. And then her brother, who is played by Angad Bedi, tells her that to sit in the airplane you need to become a pilot first. The excited girl vows to become a pilot and his brother jokingly says that girls do not become pilots.
Then Enters Colonel Ashok Kumar Saxena, Gunjan’s father, who is the only person who believes in her until she becomes the IAF officer. There is one of the scenes where Gunjan is seen frustrated and thinks of settling down and giving up on the career, and her father advises her that the solution doesn’t lie getting shut in the cage but to break free and fly. The role of Gunjan’s father is described as a supportive and empowering father who treats his son and daughter equally. There are some scenes which will make you chuckle and some in which you will cry.
The performance of Pankaj Tripathi as a father is delightful. Whenever he makes an appearance in the scene, he just steals the show. There are some admirable performances by the supporting cast too. Jahnvi’s performance in some of the scenes is commendable. Though there is some room for improvement when it comes to intense scenes.
So this movie is decent that has great cinematography, a good storyline, and powerful performances.
