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“In a biopic, the filmmaker can’t take too much liberty just to make it appealing to the audience,” Singh says. Every filmmaker will have different ways of approaching the same subject, explains filmmaker Brahmanand Singh whose film Pancham Unmixed on music composer RD Burman won the National Film Award for best biographical film in 2009. While many feel that biopics should not over-dramatise real events, there are others who feel there has to be a balance between fact and fiction, as one can’t just show facts and eliminate the creative process.
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The criticism the film faced has put the spotlight on the biopic genre as a whole, leading many to question the filmmakers’ creative liberty while making a biopic. Interestingly, after the controversy, Saxena herself said that there was no gender-based discrimination in the IAF at the organisational level. Others argued that the film sidestepped Saxena’s other achievements and instead chose to depict her as a ‘weak and oppressed victim of the system’. Rajan pointed out that Saxena was neither the first woman to be posted to the Udhampur helicopter base nor was she the first woman to fly during the 1999 Kargil War as was depicted. Several of Saxena’s colleagues in the IAF, including retired flight lieutenant Sreevidya Rajan, who was her batchmate, also alleged that facts were ‘twisted’ to gain publicity. The IAF itself took umbrage at its “undue negative” portrayal and even invoked the Censor Board. Soon after its release, however, a volley of criticism was hurled its way. The film, which is the biopic of retired Indian Air Force (IAF) officer Gunjan Saxena, is directed by Sharan Sharma. On August 12, the Janhvi Kapoor-starrer Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl released on Netflix.