NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force has raised objections to the negative portrayal of the force and also the inappropriate portrayal of its work culture in the movie Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl and has shot a complaint to Dharma Productions, Netflix and the Central Board of Film Certification.
The Air Force has pointed out in its letter that, "Certain scenes and dialogues in the movie and its trailer, which was forwarded to this Office for viewing have been found to portray the IAF in an undue negative light."
The Air Force says 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.
Dharma Productions is led by Karan Johar and was founded by his father Late Yash Johar in 1976.
The force has clarified that IAF as a service has always ensured that the organisation is gender neutral and has always provided an equal opportunity to both male and women personnel.
As per the Air Force, the movie is being released on Netflix on 12 August 2020.
The IAF had informed the Production House about the objectionable portion of the movie and was advised to delete/modify the same.
Pointing to a breach of understanding from the side of Dharma Productions, the Air Force brought out that, "As per initial understanding, M/s Dharma Productions had agreed to represent the Indian Air Force (IAF) with authenticity and make all efforts to ensure that the film helps to inspire the next generation of IAF Officers."
However, the production house has not deleted the scenes but had proposed a media plan in the run up to the release and inserting a disclaimer in the movie. The summary of the scenes/ dialogues of the script, which were considered objectionable due to the presentation of incorrect gender bias, were annexed with the letter and sent.
The Air Force Headquarters has made it clear that "it considers that a mere media plan and Disclaimer would not be adequate to prevent the presentation of incorrect facts about the IAF."
The trailer of the movie has been released recently on the OTT platform.
It is pertinent to bring out that to prevent the distorted depiction of Indian Army Personnel and Military Uniform, the Ministry of Defence formally wrote to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), MeITY and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to advise production houses to obtain a No Objection Certificate from it before the telecast of any film/ documentary/ web series on Army theme in public domain.