Anna Vetticad says in her review of Gunjan Saxena, that it is a story of
one remarkable woman, but also a story of every remarkable woman that ever
lived. This one line summarises everything the movie aims to portray. It is not
about patriotism, not about ‘dushman-desh’ or not even about the IAF. It is
just about an innocent girl aiming to soar high but put down by the society
that leaves no stone unturned to say that she is not worth her dreams. But, who
are they to say anyways? The Kargil girl disproves them in style.
It is the story of every woman. Misogyny spares no woman. We all sail
through it on a daily basis. It may be adrenaline charging to see women giving
savage comebacks and dismantling patriarchy through powerful monologues on
screen. But, honestly, we never do that on a regular basis. Sometimes yes. But,
definitely not always. Most of the time we suck up and carry on with our work,
believing our actions would speak up for itself. Gunjan Saxena is that kind.
That doesn’t make her any less of a badass.
Gunjan is bloody focussed on her goals. She is unapologetic to say that
she had put flying before her country. She does not want to prove anyone
anything. She wants to fly. As simple as that. But, why is society reluctant to
understand such a simple thing. She was ready to take heads on any challenge
coming her way, but, that doesn’t mean she would entertain being disrespected.
Arm-wrestling her to prove that she was weak was totally uncalled for. That is
the only time she loses her cool and confronts a bunch of ‘strong’ men that she
was there to fly the plane, not lift it.
Like every other woman, mending their own ways to fit into a system that
was exclusively built for men, she customises it to fit in. she makes her own
dressing room in the common area, leaving the men gape at her intelligence. The
child-like happiness she displays at every single step of her success makes us do
a little happy dance ourselves.
We see film-makers claiming their movies are about the journey of a boy
to man. But, how many have attempted to show the journey of a girl to a woman? Even
if they do so, the womanhood they aim is always motherhood. Gunjan Saxena
challenges the very notion that ‘settling’ means marrying. Her resentment makes
her succumb to patriarchal thoughts, but nevertheless, she gets back more
determined than before.
The movie also rekindled my brief
stint at the SSB preliminary selections. Final year students from various
colleges were asked to report in specific colleges as a part of selections. I had no idea about it and just went as a part of my final year
routine of attending as many campus interviews as possible. Interestingly I was
the only girl on that campus, while all my other friends were allotted
different dates and campuses. If I remember correctly, there was only a group
discussion round to filter the candidates. I remember walking out of the gate proud of woman kind for the fact that no man would dare venture into an all-woman space, but, it comes to us, to swim across an all-male environment if the situation demands.
A few weeks later I received a message
that I was shortlisted to attend the next round in Bangalore.
Having no idea about SSB, it was easy for me to ignore and concentrate on the
other interviews. Had this movie been made during those times, I would have at least
tried the next round. Feeling pretty bummed right now for how uninformed I had
been in the most crucial times of my life. At least I am convinced that girls
who watch Gunjan Saxena would make an informed choice unlike me.
Jhanvi was a good choice as she resembled the real-life Saxena
reasonably. Her subtle performance was convincing as a coming of age woman
silently battling a system that is so doubtful of her. Though a little
improvement in expressions would have yielded better results in her teen parts.
The music supplements the movie’s josh.
The movie arguably had few contentious parts like ignoring the other
female pilot in IAF at Gunjan’s time and having only male allies for her. But,
end of the day it can be spared, for the fact, the movie stays close to the
heart to the women for being so damn relatable to their own encounters with
patriarchy. In the pop-culture where women-centric movies are mostly reduced to
sexual crimes, Gunjan Saxena is as liberating as it is refreshing.
When I go through workplace inconveniences due to my gender, I would think how hard it must have been for women who were the first to deal with that. Gunjan Saxena answers it. It is because of women like her who braved the system, the rest of us have it million times easy. Let us not forget to make it easier for the next batch.
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