Retired IAF Pilot Slams Gunjan Saxena’s Makers

Ever since Janhvi Kapoor starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl was released on the OTT platform, the film has been hitting the headlines for various reasons.

Now, a retired Wing Commander Namrita Chandi, who served in the Indian Air Force with Gunjan Saxena, has written an open letter criticising the film’s portrayal of the IAF.

“I have myself served as a helicopter pilot and I have never faced the kind of abuse and maltreatment as was portrayed in the movie. In fact, men in uniform are true gentlemen and professionals. They go out of their way to make lady officers comfortable and adjust. Yes, initially there were teething troubles like no changing rooms or exclusive ladies toilets yet the men made space for us. Sometimes, my brother officers stood guard outside the curtain while I changed. Never in my entire career span of 15 years have I been disrespected or mistreated,” Namrita Chandi wrote.

Namrita also accused the filmmakers of peddling lies as Srividya Rajan was the first lady pilot who flew to Kargil and not Gunjan. However, Srividya has no complaints about this credit being taken away from her.

She wrote that the film acts as an obstacle for women to join the air force and that her fellow female officers are shocked and saddened at how events have been portrayed.

She also penned a note to lead actor Janhvi Kapoor that asking her to never again do a film of this kind if she is a proud Indian woman.