The Delhi High Court on Wednesday declined a petition by the Centre and the Indian Air Force (IAF) to stay the streaming of Netflix movie Gunjan Saxena - The Kargil Girl. It, however, said it would hear directly from former Flight Lieutenant Gunjan Saxena on the allegations that the movie depicted the force in a bad light.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher made Ms. Saxena, based on whose life the movie is made, a party in the suit filed by the government and sought response from her on the issue. The court also sought the response of movie producer Dharma Productions Private Limited, director Karan Johar and Netflix. The court asked the government as to why it did not approach it before the release of the movie on the Over The Top (OTT) platform. It said a stay could not be granted now as the film was already streaming.
Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain said the movie was never shown to the preview panel, set up in accordance with the Ministry of Defence’s 2013 guidelines.
The Ministry of Defence and the IAF, in the suit filed through Central government standing counsel Gaurang Kanth, stated that the IAF “has always provided equal opportunities to the meritorious officers irrespective of their gender, caste, region, religion, etc.”
‘Image tarnished’
The Ministry stated that a historical film made on the IAF, based on the life story of a war hero, had to be based on true incidents or instances as the audience watching such a biopic film assumed so. “Such a movie cannot be fictionalised or dramatised to such an extent as in the present movie, wherein an entirely different perspective is created based on false and misleading facts/events that leave an adverse impression in the minds of the viewers, thereby tarnishing the image of the true characters and the organisation,” the Ministry argued.
“The facts have been completely distorted to give an impression to the public at large that the Indian Air Force practises gender bias and discrimination,” it said.
The suit stated that the producers of the movie went ahead with its release on Netflix without obtaining a no objection certificate from the IAF.
Senior Advocate Harish Salve, representing Dharma Productions, said the movie was only ‘inspired’ from the life of Ms. Saxena. Mr. Salve, who claimed to have seen the movie, said the Air Force came out in glory. “There is no organisation which does not have gender issue. Anything said in criticism is not slander,” he added.
Netflix’s counsel argued that the script was shared with the IAF and that the movie was shown to the IAF in February 2020. The High Court will hear the case again on September 18.
