IAF Instructor Slams Gunjan Saxena Biopic, Says ‘it is Far from the Truth’

Retired Wing Commander IK Khanna, who says he trained the first batch of female pilots in the Indian Air Force, has claimed that much of what was shown in the Netflix film Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, especially with regard to the IAF, is inaccurate.

There have been accusations against the makers for distorting facts since the movie has released and now another officer has slammed Gunjan Saxena saying, “It’s far from the truth.” Khanna further raises question over the makers and confronts them asking whether the script was shared with someone in the IAF. “If so, was it approved in its present form, and by whom? A film like this releasing when the IAF has moved on to induct women pilots in the fighter stream is bad timing and taste,” Khanna wrote in a column. He also criticised the arm wrestling scene in the film.

Recalling the year 1994 when the IAF welcomed it’s first set of female pilots at Yelahanka, Bengaluru, Khanna said, “The station was preparing to receive the women in the same way as it would have received a batch of trainee men. There were subtle changes made such as preparing a changing-cum-rest room. No one had to run to their room to change as shown in Gunjan Saxena.”

Earlier, Sandhya Suri, who was among the first women officers to serve on a warship, had slammed Gunjan Saxena for being a promotional vehicle for Janhvi Kapoor. She said that the film has nothing to do with the real character of Gunjan.

“It projects the armed forces in a bad light. It never happens the way it has been shown,” the ex-officer had told IANS.