Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl, Sharan Sharma’s directorial debut is about India’s first female Air Force pilot in a combat role and the obstacles she faces in a male-dominated world.

There are two wars being fought. One is the Kargil War of 1999 between India and Pakistan. The other is Gunjan Saxena (played by Jahnavi Kapoor)’s personal battle against a world that refuses to believe in women. Whether it is the absence of toilets for female officers, a condescending flight instructor or a discouraging older sibling, Gunjan Saxena’s real battles are not on the front lines.

The movie begins with a nine-year-old Gunjan (Riva Arora) wanting to peep out of an aeroplane window, but not being allowed to by her older brother (Aryan Arora). When a young Gunjan says “Mujhe Pilot Banna Hai”, her brother sarcastically remarks “Mujhe Kapil Dev banna hai”.  Clearly, there is no dearth of negativity in Gunjan Saxena’s life. However, she pursues her dream with hard work and determination.

The turning point in the movie is the belan (rolling pin) scene between Gunjan and her father Lt Colonel Anup Saxena (Pankaj Tripathi). The father reignites in daughter the will to carry on chasing her dream when Gunjan is on the verge of giving up.

Gunjan Saxena’s father Anup Saxena is her bedrock of support throughout in a quiet and unassuming way. He is the hero in her life without whom she could not have scaled such heights, literally and figuratively.

When the older Gunjan asks her father whether joining the IAF because she is passionate about flying and not because of a sense of duty towards her country amounts to treachery, Anup Saxena replies that the armed forces do not need people who shout ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’. What they require are passionate personnel who do their work with honesty. This bold differentiation between passion and patriotism in an era when the two are prone to getting mixed up is commendable.

If one were to subtract the war backdrop from the movie, “Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl” would resemble any workplace with its patriarchal biases. The daily struggle of ambitious women to prove their worth and the umpteen hurdles in their way sound eerily familiar.

Pankaj Tripathi says a lot with just his expressions; his brilliant acting skills are on full display despite minimum dialogue.

Gunjan Saxena’s mother (Ayesha Raza Mishra) dissuades her from chasing her dream. Her brother Anshuman (Angad Bedi) means well but sides with his mother. By the end of the movie, the two are forced to change their opinion on women pilots when they see Gunjan excel in her chosen role.

Jahnavi Kapoor does a fairly good job of playing Gunjan Saxena. Her lack of experience shows but is not glaring. Being a newcomer in the film industry, her performance is bound to get better with every movie.

Wing Commander Dileep Singh (Vineet Kumar Singh), Gunjan Saxena’s flight instructor at Udhampur, is condescending towards her. He introduces her to his male cadets as “Miss Badlav” in a tone that is far from complimenting. By the end, he is forced to swallow his pride.

The biopic is compact and neatly packaged. The cinematography is uncluttered. The scripting is not lazy with a clear focus on Gunjan’s struggle in the Air Force. No time is wasted on chest-thumping war scenes either. The Kargil war scenes are short and businesslike thereby retaining the focus on the pilot’s life. Clearly, content takes precedence over sensationalism.

Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl is bound to inspire women who dare to dream big.

Shakuntala Devi – The Unseen Side Of A Brilliant Mathematician (Review)

As the name suggests, Shakuntala Devi (played by Vidya Balan) is a movie about the math genius from Karnataka who enthralled the world with her numerical abilities. The film also explores Shakuntala Devi’s turbulent relationship with her daughter, father, mother and husband. 

Shakuntala Devi the movie traces the mathematician’s life and her transformation from a child in a poor Karnataka family to a superstar in the world of mathematics. Her abilities put her on par with the best and the brightest. 

Loud, bold and ambitious, Shakuntala Devi is like an untamed horse let loose on the racing track. She is a non-conformist who dares to enter and dominate the world of mathematics, traditionally a male bastion. She revels in the adulation she receives and is intoxicated by success. Her relationships with men enamoured by her brilliance defy social norms.  This is apparent when she advises her daughter Anupama Banerjee to find another partner as living with the same man can get boring.

Vidya Balan is a seasoned actress who does a brilliant job of playing Shakuntala Devi. She portrays how the mathematician lived life on her own terms despite the pulls and pressures of society. Her experience in Dirty Picture and Mission Mangal seemed to have served her well. She is the embodiment of a feminist dream-turned- nightmare as she resolves to fight gender inequality both at home and outside. This burning desire comes not surprisingly from her own lived experiences where she was pulled out of school, denied a normal childhood and used as a golden goose by her father.

Ironically, in trying not to repeat the mistakes of her parents, she goes overboard enveloping her daughter Anupama in a suffocating embrace. This makes Anupama resentful and leaves her longing for the freedom to be herself. Sanya Malhotra’s portrayal of Anupama is a brilliant performance by a rising star. When she announces in scene one that she is contemplating legal action against her mother, the audience has no choice but to remain glued to the screen for the remainder of the movie. Malhotra succeeds in playing Anupama who, quite unlike Shakuntala Devi, hates maths and abhors any comparison with her mother.

Director Anu Menon has tried to portray the black, white and grey of every character in Shakuntala Devi. To her credit, she is careful not to glorify or demonise anyone. Each character is shown playing their part as actors on a stage would. In fact, Vidya Balan refers to this Shakesperean quote in the course of the movie.

Shakuntala Devi’s personal life is not as precise as her number-crunching abilities. She is shown excelling as a mathematician but ”failing” in every other sphere. This inability to reconcile the personal with the professional is true of most successful people. However, while men have models they can emulate, women do not. The women thus end up paying a bigger price for success than men. Quite understandably, women’s personal lives are often at odds with their professional one’s. The movie proves that successful women do not inspire awe; they only end up looking like poor caricatures of their male versions.

Jishu Sengupta, who plays Shakuntala Devi’s husband Paritosh Banerjee and Amit Sadh, who plays Anupama’s partner are portrayed as gentle, caring and supportive husbands. Possibly the Director Anu Menon, who was obviously in awe of Shakuntala Devi did not want to waste footage on the men.

The ending is a bit contrived because Anupama comes to terms with her turbulent relationship with her mother when Shakuntala Devi abruptly reverses her decision to deny Anupama her share of the property. Love is seen sinking the duo’s differences.

Shakuntala Devi is a movie that has done justice to the mathematician’s life. It is a revelation for anyone who is unaware of her darker side and her tough childhood.

I have been a smoker for the past fourteen years. I remember the day when I was offered a cigarette by a friend over a cup of tea in a Hyderabad restaurant. It was the end of a tiring day and my first puff seemed divine. It was relaxing, liberating and provided me with a release from a stressful and challenging work environment.

I was working as a journalist in TV9 in Hyderabad. It is an open secret that journalists are overworked, especially those in electronic media. And having attained seniority in the digital marketing team, I was expected to give more than one hundred per cent. This meant that I had to be sharp, quick and achieve targets on time. This added to my stress levels. I also realised why journalists are often seen guzzling alcohol at the press club. And why many of them die prematurely.

As smoking became a daily habit, many of my friends and colleagues ( who were shocked because I hardly seemed the kind who would go astray) tried to talk me into giving it up. They counselled me about the health risks associated with the deadly habit, but to no avail. I did my level best to kick the habit but would be back to square one each time. I badly wanted to quit too because, in addition to the health risks, I was beginning to face stigma from friends and family alike. I recall one of my colleagues saying ”Yeh Kanishka tho phaltu go gaya”, which in English means ”Kanishka has turned out to be a good for nothing oaf”. Such comments dented my self-esteem and confidence but did nothing to help me quit. Besides, I was not doing well professionally and was using cigarettes to vent my frustration. I was caught in a vicious cycle.

As the years rolled on, my name became synonymous with smoking, especially at work. If someone referred to me, they would say ”Oh yes, I know Kanishka. He’s the one who smokes like a chimney, right?” I was but a mere shadow of my former self, both physically and emotionally. I knew deep down that it was important to quit, but hadn’t the faintest idea of how to go about it.

As I have mentioned before, my professional life was not going well either. Fortunately, problems on the work front sorted themselves out in a little while. But I remained a smoker. I think the main reason I was not able to quit smoking, even though I was doing well at work, was the stress. Long working hours coupled with the pressure to perform made me turn to smoking for release.

I made a major career move in 2018. I bid goodbye to my TV9 job and shifted to Bangalore to work at the Rangoli Metro Art Center. I then managed to cut down my smoking to five cigarettes a day. On a visit to Hyderabad once, (in Nov 2019 I think ), I met my former colleague, the one who had made the ”Phaltu” comment. He asked me if I still smoked, to which I replied yes and added that kicking the habit seemed like a daunting task. He advised me to keep trying and not give up.

A few days into the lockdown, cigarettes were in short supply. On the advice of my mother, I began breaking whatever cigarettes I had left into two and smoking just one half, instead of the usual full cigarette, every time. I then realised that if I could bring down my smoking to three cigarettes a day, then quitting for good should not be difficult. And lo and behold, as I write this, it has been eight days since I smoked! And I am also able to resist the temptation whenever I see a shop that is open and selling cigarettes.

I am now able to smell and taste things better. I am able to meet people confidently without worrying about smelling bad. My appetite is back to normal and I am sleeping well. I haven’t felt so good in a long while. Yes, there is always a risk of a relapse once the lockdown ends, but I am confident that with a bit of will power I will stay on course.

I think more than the actual work-related stress, it is the maladaptive ways of dealing with the stress that is a cause for concern. Habits like smoking and drinking are easy, albeit dangerous, ways of coping. And once you get used to unwinding over a drink or a smoke, it becomes difficult to break out of the cycle.

I am glad that I have finally managed to quit smoking and am back on the track to good health. If anyone of you have similar issues, please remember that quitting smoking, alcohol or drugs is possible. It is certainly not easy, but with professional and family support, the battle can be won.