'Gunjan Saxena portrays armed forces in bad light'

Jaipur: Sandhya Suri, who was among the first women officers to serve on a warship, strongly condemned the wrong portrayal of facts in the newly released flick 'Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl' and said that the story has been distorted badly only to promote its actor Janhvi Kapoor and has nothing to do with the real character of Gunjan Kapoor.

"As an officer, I refused to watch the film because its initial portrayal in the trailer was wrong, as they projected Gunjan to be the first woman officer to fly in the Indian Air Force, which is a wrong fact. Next, the way she has been shown ragged and abused, projects the armed forces in a bad light. It never happens the way it has been shown," the ex-officer said.

Sandhya was the third batch woman officer who wanted to join the armed forces even before the induction of women came into force.

"I wanted to do something worthy and was inspired by the uniform. In the forces, you have to work and prove that you do not need protection and special treatment. The qualification and criteria remains the same if someone needs to be sent to the front," she said.

Sandhya also added that the film, however, shows feminism, which is not okay.

"Sexist things have been shown in the film contrary to the real fact that the whole training is to enable you to lead your men, who are also in uniform," she said.

The ex-navy officer further said, "We were two women and 250 men while serving on board a warship. We all knew what it meant to be in uniform," she said, adding: "The story, it seems, has been distorted to promote one person, who is none other than Janhvi Kapoor."