Gunjan Saxena

Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena (born 1974) is an Indian Air Force (IAF) officer and former helicopter pilot. She joined the IAF in 1996, is a 1999 Kargil War veteran, and one of the first few Indian woman to fly in a combat zone. She joined the Indian Air Force after attaining a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology from Hansraj College, Delhi University.[1][2][3] She was the first woman to be part of the Kargil War,[3][4] making her the first woman IAF officer to go to war.[5][6] She is the first of two women along with Flight Lieutenant Srividya Rajan from the IAF to enter a war zone flying Cheetah helicopters.[3][4] One of her main roles during the Kargil War was to evacuate the wounded from Kargil, transport supplies and assist in surveillance.[1] She would go on to be part of operations to evacuate over 900 troops, both injured and deceased, from Kargil. In 2004, after serving as a pilot for eight years, her career as a helicopter pilot ended; the concept of permanent commission for women was not there during her time.[3][6]

For the movie, see Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl.
Flight Lieutenant

Gunjan Saxena
Native name
Gunjan
Born1974
Guwahati, Assam
Allegiance India
Service/branch Indian Air Force
Years of service1996—2004
Rank Flight Lieutenant

The 2020 Bollywood movie Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is inspired by her life.[1]

Life

Gunjan Saxena was born in Guwahati into an Army family.[4] Her father, Lt Col Anup Kumar Saxena (retired), and brother both served in the Indian Army.[3] Saxena graduated from Hansraj College, University of Delhi in New Delhi with a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology. She was among a group of 6 women who joined the IAF in 1996. This was the fourth batch of women air force trainees for the IAF.[3] [7][1] Saxena's first posting was in Udhampur, as part of the 132 Forward Area Control (FAC), where she had to face many gender-based challenges like adapting to makeshift changing rooms until new ones were built for women.[2][6] However she recalls that the male pilots accepted the situation faster than she expected.[1] Flying Officer Gunjan Saxena was 24 years old when she flew during the Kargil War and stationed in Srinagar.[2][6] In the Kargil War, as part of Operation Vijay, apart from evacuating the wounded[lower-alpha 1], she helped in transporting supplies to troops in the forward areas of Dras and Batalik. She also was assigned surveillance roles such as mapping enemy positions.[3] She had to deal with makeshift landing grounds, heights of 13,000 to 18,000 feet and enemy fire.[2] She was one of the ten pilots, the only female pilot, based in Srinagar that flew hundreds of sorties during the war, evacuating over 900 injured casualties including those martyred from Kargil.[2][6] Gunjan Saxena was the only woman in the Indian Armed Forces who served in the Kargil War.[6] In 2004, her career as a helicopter pilot ended after serving as a pilot for seven years.[3] The concept of permanent commission was not there during her time.[6] Her husband Wing Commander Gautam Narain is an Indian Air Force pilot. They have one daughter Pragya Narain who was born in 2004.[3]

A chapter in the book Kargil Untold Stories From The War by Rachna Bisht Rawat focuses on Gunjan Saxena.[2]

The 2020 Bollywood movie Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is inspired by her life.[1] Gunjan Saxena is portrayed by Janhvi Kapoor while the movie has been produced by Dharma Productions and Zee Studios. Gunjan's father and brother are played by Pankaj Tripathi and Angad Bedi respectively in other popular roles.[8][9]

Notes
  1. Indian official figures for Indians killed in the Kargil War is 527.

References
  1. Bhadani, Priyanka (26 July 2020). "Gunjan Saxena never thought in her wildest dreams she would inspire a film". The Week. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  2. Menon, Smitha (2020-06-16). "The story of Gunjan Saxena, one of India's first women in combat". Condé Nast Traveller India. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  3. Javaid, Arfa (2020-06-10). "Gunjan Saxena Biography: Early Life, Education, Carrer, Awards and Unknown Facts". Jagranjosh.com. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  4. Talwar, Shikha (9 June 2020). "This is the real story of Gunjan Saxena, the Kargil girl who has inspired Janhvi Kapoor's next film". GQ India. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  5. "All you need to know about Gunjan Saxena, the first woman IAF officer to go to war". The Indian Express. 2019-08-29. Retrieved 2020-08-06. Gunjan Saxena, the first woman IAF officer to go to war
  6. Rawat, Rachna Bisht (17 July 2019). "Meet Flying Officer Gunjan Saxena, India's only woman warrior in the Kargil war". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2020-08-01. She has attained the glory of being the only woman involved in the Kargil War.
  7. Rathod, Kalwyna (26 June 2020). "Gunjan Saxena And Srividya Rajan: Our First Female Warriors Of Kargil". femina.in. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  8. "Angad Bedi joins the star cast of Gunjan Saxena's biopic, Kargil Girl". Bollywood Hungama. 2019-02-25. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  9. "Objection to negative image of Air Force in the film 'Gunjan Saxena'". breakingnews365.in. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
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