PIL in Delhi HC seeks modifying, deleting scenes from movie Gunjan Saxena for misleading portrayal of IAF

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been moved in Delhi High Court against the movie Gunjan Saxena-The Kargil Girl, seeking direction to modify or delete the dialogues and scenes from it that portray a negative image of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The plea also seeks a stay on the streaming of the movie on the over-the-top (OTT) platform till such time the inaccurate, false and misleading portrayal of the IAF through the dialogues and scenes in the said movie are not modified or deleted.

The petitioner NGO, Justice For Rights Foundation through its president Satyam Singh Rajput, has moved the petition on Wednesday which is likely to come up for hearing on Friday.

Petitioner Satyam Singh Rajput through advocate Amit Sharma has stated that some scenes and dialogues in the movie are factually incorrect, misleading and portray an inappropriate work culture to glorify the screen character of the former Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena.

Several male officers have been projected as misogynists to suit the film's false narrative. The false and negative portrayal of the IAF is an abuse of freedom of expression which ought to be censured, the petition added.

The petition stated that "undue negative portrayal" in the movie and the complete distortion of reality in the unimaginably obnoxious scenes of interruptions of flight briefings by the Flight Commander and the crude arm-wrestling games in the crew room to prove the so-called 'weakness' of women officers.

These are instances of malicious fabrication by the filmmakers, in the name of cinematic license and need to be treated with the contempt that they deserve, it said.

The petition also stated that no quarter or concession was given in terms of professionalism to women officers, and indeed, none was asked for, simply because military operations are a matter of life and death and no concessions can be given to anyone, without endangering the lives of an entire group of people.

The training imparted at the Air Force and other Military Academies also precluded this, being equally stringent for all cadets (trainees), male and female. Socially, however, women officers were received with the same kind of courtesy and chivalry when they arrived, as was usually reserved for the families hitherto, even though they were 'one of the boys,' so to say.

All this has been grossly misrepresented in the film which shows the males of the entire unit feeling threatened and treating the Lady Officer with resentment and suspicion, it stated.The plea claimed that all this has been twisted in an ugly manner in the film and it hurts anyone whoever wore the blue uniform with pride over the best years of their lives and made lifelong friendships in the process.

( With inputs from ANI )