New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Wednesday refused to stay, at this stage, the streaming of Netflix movie Gunjan Saxena – The Kargil Girl.
The court was approached by the Ministry of Defence and the Indian Air Force (IAF) claiming that the movie’s makers have “projected their commercial film as a historical biopic and distorted the true and correct facts, purely for sensationalising the same in order to make commercial gains”.
“The deceitful and derogatory projections shown by the defendants in the present biopic film, has not only shown the Indian Air Force in bad and negative light in the estimation of the whole nation but has also painted a negative image of the Indian Air Force internationally,” the plea said.
Justice Rajiv Shakdher, however, issued notices and sought responses from the movie’s producer, Dharma Productions Private Limited, its directors Karan Yash Johar and Hiroo Yash Johar, CEO Apporva Mehta, Zee Entertainment, Netflix Entertainment Services India LLP and M/s Netflix.
The court also said while former flight lieutenant Gunjan Saxena should herself be made a party to the suit as well, IAF should be removed from the memo of parties, allowing the central government to take the case forward.
The plea against the movie has also contended that it distorts facts “to give an impression to the public at large that the IAF practices gender bias and discrimination”. This, it says, was “contrary to the ethos, work culture and work ethic of the IAF”.
“A historical film made on the Indian Armed Forces based on the life story of a war hero has to be based on the true incidents/instances and the audience watching such a biopic film assumes that the incidents/events shown therein are actual and true events,” the plea stated.
Such a movie, it further said, “cannot be fictionalised or dramatized to such an extent… wherein an entirely different perspective is created based on false and misleading facts/events…”
Also read: I trained IAF’s 1st batch of women pilots. ‘Gunjan Saxena’ gets a lot wrong
‘Kept in dark about real intent of movie’
The central government said the defence ministry was “kept in dark about the real intent of the movie i.e. to show the plaintiff No.2 (Air Force)…in a negative light based on misleading and manipulative facts”.
Proposals to the ministry allegedly said the movie makers wanted to “showcase the life of an air force officer with integrity, authenticity and honesty through the journey of Gunjan Saxena”.
The government has also alleged that the movie does not adhere to the guidelines issued by the defence ministry in February 2013, which require approval/certification from the history division of the Ministry of Defence, in case of biopics on the armed forces.
They, therefore, demanded that the respondents be permanently barred from releasing the movie on any online platform or theater.
Also read: Gunjan Saxena on Netflix made me a bechari, from being a strong woman in my daughters’ eyes