Gunjan Saxena Addresses Controversy About The First Woman Pilot To Fly In Kargil; Says ‘I Never Went Flying In The Kargil To Create Any History’
After the release of Janhvi Kapoor Starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, Flight Lieutenant Sreevidya Rajan said she was the first woman to fly in Kargil, not Gunjan. Now, Gunjan Saxena has addressed the controversy, read on
In the days following the release of Janhvi Kapoor starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl, the film garnered a lot of criticism for portraying the Indian Air Force (IAF) in a poor light. Besides this, a few factual inaccuracies were also being pointed out. Recently, Flight Lieutenant Sreevidya Rajan said she was the first woman to fly in Kargil, not Gunjan. She said that she went with the first batch of pilots and later when the second batch was sent, Gunjan came along with them. Now, Gunjan Saxena has addressed this controversy.
While speaking to NDTV, Gunjan Saxena said that when she went flying during the Kargil operation, she never went there thinking of setting any records or trying to make history. Her only focus was to try and do her job as well as possible. She said, “Somewhere towards the end of these Kargil operations is when a media interaction was arranged by the Air Force, and it was then that my name was projected as being the first woman aviator flying in a combat zone. And now from July ‘99 till today, my name has featured in a number of articles.”She said that her name has also featured in the Limca book of records, and also said that in one of the promotion exams taken by the Air Force for the officers, there’s a question which asks about the name of the first female pilot who has flown into a combat zone. And Gunjan Saxena’s name featured as the correct answer there.
She said that the poster of Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl released in August 2019, and from July ’99 to August 2019, there was no controversy about this from anyone. “Between then and now, I don’t know what has changed. The only thing that has changed is this movie being released,” said Gunjan Saxena.
Meanwhile, Flight Lieutenant Sreevidya Rajan said that she didn’t wish to claim the credit of being the first woman pilot, and that her issue was with the movie, which she thinks portrayed the entire thing in a negative way. Read more about it here.
Image Source: Instagram/janhvikapoor