Undue negative portrayal in pilot's biopic, IAF tells CBFC

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force has complained to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) against the “undue negative portrayal” of the work culture in the force in the new film “Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl”.
In its letter to the CBFC, with copies marked to the Karan Johar-owned Dharma Productions and Netflix, the IAF said, “In the aim to glorify the screen character of ‘Ex-Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena’, M/s Dharma Productions presented some situations that are misleading and portray an inappropriate work culture especially against women in the IAF”.
The film is a biopic on former IAF officer Flight Lieutenant Saxena, who became the first woman helicopter pilot to fly in combat to evacuate wounded soldiers during the Kargil conflict in 1999. Saxena, whose father is a retired Army officer, was even conferred with a gallantry award.
IAF said Dharma Productions had earlier agreed to represent the force with authenticity and make all efforts to ensure the film helped inspire youngsters to become air warriors. But “certain scenes and dialogues” in the movie and its trailer, which were submitted for a preview, portrayed the IAF in an “undue negative light” as if it has institutionalised gender bias, said the letter.
IAF said it has ensured that “the organisation is gender neutral and has always provided an equal opportunity to both male and women personnel” since women started being inducted as officers in the force in the mid-1990s.
Annexing the summary of the objectionable scenes and dialogues in the film, the IAF letter said Dharma Productions was advised to delete or modify them. “However, the production house has not deleted the scenes. But it proposed a media plan in the run-up to the release and inserted a disclaimer in the movie,” it said.
The grant of the no-objection certificate for the release of the movie should be considered only after the objectionable scenes are deleted or suitably modified, said IAF.