Gunjan Saxena (born 1975)
is an
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
(IAF) officer and former helicopter pilot. She joined the IAF in 1996 and is a 1999
Kargil War
The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referr ...
veteran.
She is one of the first women to fly in a combat zone. One of her main roles during the Kargil War was to evacuate the wounded from Kargil, transport supplies and assist in surveillance.
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; permanent commissions for women were not available during her time.
The 2020 Bollywood film ''
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl'' is inspired by her life.
Her autobiography, ''The Kargil Girl'', was released along with the movie by Penguin Publishers, which she had co-written with author-duo
Kiran Nirvan.
Early life
Saxena was born into an Army family.
Her father,
Lt Col
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Anup Kumar Saxena and brother
Lt. Col.
Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
Anshuman both served in the
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
.
Saxena graduated with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
degree in
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
from
Hansraj College
Hansraj College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, in Delhi, India. The departments of Hansraj college includes science, liberal arts and commerce.
History
The was founded on 26 July 1948 in memory of the prominent Indian ...
,
University of Delhi
Delhi University (DU), formally the University of Delhi, is a collegiate central university located in New Delhi, India. It was founded in 1922 by an Act of the Central Legislative Assembly and is recognized as an Institute of Eminence (IoE) ...
in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
.
Indian Air Force service
Saxena was one of six women who joined the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a pilot in 1996. This was the fourth batch of women air force trainees for the IAF.
.Saxena's first posting was in
Udhampur
Udhampur (ˌʊd̪ʱəmpur) is a city and a municipal council in Udhampur district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters of Udhampur District. Named after Raja Udham Singh, it serves as the district capita ...
, as part of the 132 Forward Area Control (FAC) as a flight lieutenant.
Flying Officer Saxena was 24 years old when she flew during the Kargil War and was stationed in
Srinagar
Srinagar (English: , ) is the largest city and the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natu ...
.
In the Kargil War, as part of
Operation Vijay, apart from evacuating the wounded, she helped transport supplies to troops in the forward areas of
Dras
Dras (also spelt Drass, ISO transliteration: '), also known locally in Shina as Himababs, Hembabs, or Humas, is a town and hill station, near Kargil city in the Kargil district of the union territory of Ladakh in India. It is on the Nationa ...
and
Batalik
Batalik is a town in Ladakh, India, located on the upper reaches of the Indus river. It was a focal point in the Kargil War because of its strategic location between Kargil, Leh and Baltistan. In 1999, the Kargil war was fought in this region.
...
. She also was assigned surveillance roles such as mapping enemy positions.
She had to deal with makeshift landing grounds, heights of 13,000 to 18,000 feet and enemy fire.
She was one of the ten pilots, based in Srinagar that flew hundreds of sorties during the war, evacuating over 900 casualties, wounded and killed
Saxena was the only women in the
Indian Armed Forces
The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, and Indian Air Force.—— Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by ...
who flew into war zones in the Kargil War.
In 2004, her career as a helicopter pilot ended after serving for eight years.
Permanent commissions were not available during her time in service.
Personal life
Saxena's father Anup Saxena was a Lieutenant Colonel in
Indian Army
The Indian Army is the land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who is a four- ...
. Saxena's husband Gautam Narain, a Wing Commander is also an Indian Air Force pilot. He is the pilot of IAF Mi-17 Helicopter. He also served as an instructor at the National Defence Academy, which is the first tri-service academy in the world. The couple have a daughter named Pragya Narain.
In popular culture
A chapter in the book ''Kargil Untold Stories From The War'' by
Rachna Bisht Rawat Rachna or Rachana may refer to:
* Rachana (film), a 1983 Malayalam film by Mohan
*''Rachana'', a village in the district of Batroun, North Lebanon
* ''Rachana'' (butterfly), a genus of butterflies
* Rachana (typeface), a Malayalam typeface
*Rac ...
focuses on Gunjan Saxena.
Gunjan Saxena's autobiography, titled ‘The Kargil Girl’ co-written with author-duo Kiran Nirvan, was released by
Penguin Publishers
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes , family Spheniscidae ) are a group of aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is found north of the Equator. Highly adapte ...
along with the movie. The book garnered praise and five star-reviews by print and electronic media including BBC India, CNN Network 18, Forbes India, Hindustan Times, The Tribune, etc. “''Never jingoistic but measured and matter-of-fact, the book makes for thrilling reading with vividly described, moving, cinematic and enthralling scenes''” is what Hindustan Times said about the book.
The 2020 Bollywood film, released on Netflix ''
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl'' is inspired by her life.
Saxena is portrayed by
Janhvi Kapoor
Janhvi Kapoor (born 6 March 1997) is an Indian actress who works in Hindi films. Born to Sridevi and Boney Kapoor, she made her acting debut in 2018 with the romantic drama ''Dhadak'', which was a commercial success. Kapoor went on to receive a ...
while the film has been produced by
Dharma Productions
Dharma Productions Pvt. Ltd., commonly known and doing business as Dharma Productions, is an Indian film production and distribution company established by Yash Johar in 1979. It was taken over in 2004, after his death, by his son, Karan Johar ...
and
Zee Studios
Zee Studios is a film production and distribution studio established in 2012, as a subsidiary of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited. Known to include a library of productions under its predecessor banners Zee Motion Pictures and Zee Limelig ...
. Saxena's's father and brother are played by
Pankaj Tripathi
Pankaj Tripathi (Birth name, né Tiwari; born 5 September 1976) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema and has also appeared in Telugu cinema, Telugu and Tamil cinema, Tamil language films. Tripathi has established himself as one of the n ...
and
Angad Bedi
Angad Singh Bedi (born 6 February 1983) is an Indian actor and former model. He made his debut with '' Kaya Taran'' in 2004, an adaptation of a Malayalam short story by N. S. Madhavan, ''Vanmarangal Veezhumpol (When the Big Trees Fall)''. He ha ...
respectively in other popular roles.
Media inaccuracies
After the film ''
Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl'' released, there was confusion related to some facts about Saxena. In an article in NDTV she clarifies some of them:
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saxena, Gunjan
1975 births
Living people
People from Lucknow
Indian Air Force officers
Indian Air Force personnel
Indian aviators
Indian women aviators
Women air force personnel
Delhi University alumni
Indian women in war