NEW DELHI: The controversy around the movie Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl has got entangled into another set of controversy; doubts have been raised regarding the fact, as claimed in movie, of Flight Lieutenant (Flt Lt) Gunjan Saxena being the first girl to fly during the Kargil Conflict of 1999.
Earlier, on the day the movie was released, the Indian Air Force complained to Dharma Productions, Netflix and the Central Board of Film Certification and objected to the negative portrayal of the force and also the inappropriate portrayal of its work culture in the movie.
The controversy around the movie got accentuated later with two contemporary women officers of Saxena refuting the fact that she was the first women to fly during the Kargil Operations.
Wing Commander Namrita Chandi (Retd), a fellow officer wrote in her letter published in a news report, "As I mentioned, creative license is one thing but when you deal with institutions, you cannot change facts. Elaborate and fantasise, if you must. But don’t peddle lies."
Though Wg Cdr Chandi claimed to have trained together with Flt Lt Saxena, a comprehensive denial of the fact came from Flt Lt Sreevidya Rajan, a course mate of Flt Lt Gunjan Saxena and the only other lady officer posted at Udhampur along with Gunjan Saxena
In her categorical long post on Facebook, she wrote," In the movie, Gunjan Saxena was shown as the only lady pilot to fly in Kargil operations. This is factually incorrect."
"We were posted together in Udhampur and when Kargil started, I was the first woman pilot to be sent along with the male counterparts in the first detachment of our unit which deployed in Srinagar. I flew missions in the conflict area even before Gunjan’s arrival at Srinagar. After a few days of operation, Gunjan Saxena came with the next set of crew," she said.
"We actively participated in all operations given to us which included casualty evacuation, supply drop, communication sorties, SAR, etc. The heroic acts of the protagonist portrayed in the climax never actually happened and may have been shown as part of cinematic licence," she added.
The Air Force has remained silent on this whole issue.