Mumbai, June 09: Following the footsteps of Gulabo Sitabo and Shakuntala Devi, actress Janhvi Kapoor’s highly anticipated film Gunjan Saxena - The Kargil Girl biopic became another major Bollywood movie to release directly on an OTT platform. Director-Producer Karan Johar shared a new poster of the film announcing that it will be released on Netflix, however, didn't reveal the date of its release.

 

 

A special teaser was released on Tuesday featuring photos of the real Gunjan Saxena with a voice-over by Janhvi Kapoor who appears in a couple of pictures as well. Narrating the real story, “Gunjan Saxena, a young girl from Lucknow with a big dream. She wanted to grow up and be a pilot. But she lived in a world that believed girls can't even drive cars; would that world let Gunjan fly a plane? But she didn't care about the world, she just trusted her father, who always told her whether it's a man or a woman flying the plane, both are called pilots."

 

 

"In the 1999 Kargil War, Gunjan Saxena flew a Cheetah Helicopter, she protected the country, and by being the first Woman Air Force Officer to enter a war zone, she made history. Today, there are more than 1600 Women Officers in the Indian Air Force, who inspire all of India's daughters to chase their dreams.” The video ends with photos of Kapoor with Saxena and her family.

 

 

The upcoming movie was supposed to hit the silver screen on April 24, 2020, however, due to the coronavirus lockdown, the movie was postponed.

 

The Dharma Productions backed film is a biopic that tells the story, Gunjan Saxena and Srividya Rajan who broke the criterion becoming the first-ever women Indian Air Force Officer to flew a chopper through hostile mountain territory to supply medical essentials in a combat zone during the 1999's Kargil War.

 

The film is directed by Sharan Sharma and co-produced by Karan Johar and Hiroo Johar. The Kargil Girl features Angad Bedi, Manav Vij, Pankaj Tripathi, Rajat Barmecha, Neena Gupta and Vijay Varma in pivotal parts.

 

The announcement of Gunjan Saxena to have a direct OTT release comes after Amazon Prime Video announced the release of Amitabh Bachchan-Ayushmann Khurrana starter Gulabo Sitabo and Vidya Balan-starrer Shakuntala Devi biopic along with six highly-anticipated Indian films to go for a direct digital release.

 

 

Gunjan joined the air force in 1994 while the first posting being in Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir. At that time, the intrusions in Kargil had just started coming to light and no one has any inkling about the magnitude of the operation. When Gunjan moved to Srinagar, she too believed India is facing a small incursion by the Mujahedeen.

 

 

Gunjan is amongst the pilots who flew into the valley covering the Kargil–Tololing–Batalik area, surveying it from the air and reporting any activity they spot. Often they fly over mountainous terrain where Indian and Pakistani soldiers are firing at each other. They also rescued injured soldiers in the war.

 

The two pilots flew the Cheetah helicopters for casualty evacuation and reconnaissance for which they often flew very close to Pakistani positions. This was long before women fighter pilots were commissioned into the Indian Air Force.

 

Even when Gunjan was preparing to take off from the Kargil airfield, an enemy missile misses her helicopter and crashes behind it. Undeterred, she takes off and continues with her duties.

 

Gunjan was honored with the 'Shourya Chakra' Award by the army becoming the first woman to receive this honor. After that, she often referred to as the Kargil girl.