Introduction
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, is a 2020 film. It is based on a true story about Flight Lieutenant, Gunjan Saxena, who was born in 1975 and became an Indian Air Force officer and former helicopter pilot. She was a 1999 Kargil war veteran. She was the only female candidate, who was a part of the team that went in to fight the Kargil war. She is popularly recognized as the first female officer who became the Indian Air Force (IAF) officer who went to fight the Kargil war. She entered the war zones, flying a Cheetah helicopter, and is widely appreciated for her bravery. She was supposed to evacuate the wounded from the war sites, transport supplies, as well as assist in surveillance. She was successful in her task as she could evacuate more than 900 troops from the war sites. Though her career as a helicopter pilot ended after serving for eight years, as the permanent commissions for women were not established during those times.
Plot of the movie
The story begins in the year 1984, when a young girl, Gunjan Saxena, travels along with her brother in a flight. When she wants to look out of the window and her elder brother, Anshuman does not allow her to do so, an air hostess understands the situation and is kind enough to take Gunjan to the cockpit to admire the features of that plane. When Gunjan looks at the cockpit, she awes in admiration, and becoming a pilot becomes her ambition.
Being a bright student at school, her parents aspire to send her to high school, when she tells her parents that she does not want to go for higher studies but wants to pursue her career in Aviation. Her brother and her mother think that a woman doesn’t belong in the cockpit but, her father stands by her and supports her decision. Though Gunjan makes numerous attempts to get admitted to the academy, at times either because of her educational qualifications or due to her financial problems, she always had to return home, dejected. That’s when Gunjan and her father came across an advertisement about admission into the Indian Air Force, which seemed to be an opportunity for Gunjan. She went ahead with the formalities and found at the end that she was the only female who got accepted into the force.
However, she is devastated when she learns that she is short by one centimeter and weighs seven kilograms above the qualification requirements, prescribe for getting into the service. Her father stands by her and encourages her not to lose hope but to work hard and lose seven kilograms in seven days. When they go for the medical examination, even when she manages to lose weight, her height was still short. Officers found out that her legs and hands are long enough and that, they would compensate for her short height.
During her training, being the only female candidate in the academy, she became subjected to patriarchy and toxic masculinity. She found herself subjected to harsh remarks by her colleagues. When the Kargil war began in 1999, her brother Anshuman met her and discouraged her from participating in the war. She was very determined to participate in the war. During the war, she was assigned a task but, was later asked to come back to the camp because the task was too difficult for her. Back at the camp, she learned that there are many wounded army soldiers at the war site. Gunjan takes it upon herself to save these wounded soldiers, and she, along with her colleague, sets on the ask and fly in different helicopters to save the wounded soldiers. Back at the camp, army soldiers asked her to abort the mission and come back but, Gunjan pays no heed to their sayings and goes ahead with the mission. She saves many lives even, at times when she was exposed to the bullets. She did not get scared at this site and acted with courage and bravery and, that’s what made her a great officer of the Indian Air Force.
Conclusion
It can be difficult to break the norms of society like it was for Gunjan Saxena as being a female candidate, she had to face obstacles from society at every stage of her career. But what remains important is the never-give-up attitude and being passionate about our dreams. Even in times of adversity, those who do not run back and act with courage and bravery, make it to the success stories. Gunjan Saxena’s life story and career story are truly amazing and inspiring, we should learn from them.
:By-Achal Suchak.
