A befitting guard of honor to the braveheart
The sky is the limit for her and she went on to fulfill her dream, her passion, and her desire of flying as a pilot with great dedication and hard work which are not known to many. She is the first woman pilot to fly in a combat zone making 10 sorties in 20 days flying as high as 18,000 ft during Kargil war is not a mean achievement that should go unnoticed. The exercise and effort behind presenting the story of this unsung heroine Gunjan Saxena to the world by Dharma Productions and Zee Studios which is streaming now on Netflix deserve appreciation and need to be welcomed with an open heart.
Gunjan Saxena (Janhvi Kapoor) is from a middle-class family who starts dreaming about flying the airplanes since her childhood. Like in many families there is rejection, discouragement, and noncooperation from the family members but the stern mindset and a supporting father Anup Saxena (Pankaj Tripathi) who encourages her to pursue her dream, transforms her vision into a reality which paves the way to a career in Indian Air Force.
After getting selected for Indian Air Force, Gunjan has to face several challenges in the form of bullying, male chauvinism, and admonishment due to her physical characteristics during the training which leaves her dejected at one point of time. She fights back with renewed ferocity and determination to prove her might and made her country as well as his detractors feel proud of her achievements in the end.
On the whole, the performance of Kapoor is apt but in some frames, it gives vent to a feeling that she should have done a shade better especially in the scene where she confronts the Commander to infuse some sense into the brains about equality. In this scene, her outburst was not conveyed properly and the emotions shown by her fail to make any impact. The problem with Kapoor is that she had some preset of expressions that she uses for every mood, feeling, and expression repetitively as a result she ends up belting out stereotyped look and expression. She needs to show some variation or improvisation to create a mark of her own in the future.
Pankaj Tripathi, be it a dreaded gangster or a convoluting Swamiji, he fits into any character like a glove. As a doting and supportive father who wants his daughter to pursue her dreams, he once again proves his versatility making him one of the most gifted actors in Bollywood.
The character of Angad Bedi as Anshuman Saxena, brother of Gunjan is just like a prop without any purpose but still, he pulls off with a reasonably good performance. Vineet Kumar Singh as Flight Commander Dileep Singh and Manav Vij as Commanding Officer Gautam Sinha are terrific in their performances in limited screen space available to them.
Debutant director Sharan Sharma has done very well to present all life turning events of Gunjan Saxena in true perspective with great confidence and staying true to the main story without drifting away from the plot. The clarity and authority on the subject are evident from some of the scenes during Gunjan’s training sessions and the climax which are handled brilliantly by the director.
The sorties by Cheetah helicopter are amazingly captured by Hollywood aerial coordinator Marc Wolff and they look amazing on-screen adding the thrill factor that enhanced the film to the next level.
The music by Amit Trivedi and lyrics by Kausar Munir enhance the narrative to a great extent with songs like Rekha O Rekha sung by Nakash Aziz and Dhoom Dhadaka sung by Sukhwinder Singh stand apart.
There will be a lot of sweat and blood with many falls and brickbats behind every success and apart from all controversies regarding authenticity and other aspects, Gunjan Saxena is a motivational lesson to all who aspire to pursue and achieve success in their dream careers without succumbing to pressures and contingencies that come in the way. It’s a must-watch truly inspirational and hard-hitting film which shatters the glass ceiling and opens new doors of gender indiscrimination.
Rating:3.5/5
