Gunjan Saxena

Saxena was born into an Army family.[5] Her father, Lt Col Anup Kumar Saxena and brother Lt. Col. Anshuman both served in the Indian Army.[4] Saxena graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from Hansraj College, University of Delhi in New Delhi.

Saxena was one of six women who joined the Indian Air Force (IAF) as pilots in 1996. This was the fourth batch of women air force trainees for the IAF.[4] Among the six female trainees was Flt. Lt. Srividya Rajan who would also go on to fly a Cheetah in a combat zone.[8][2] Saxena's first posting was in Udhampur, as part of the 132 Forward Area Control (FAC), where she had to face many gender-based challenges.[3][7] However, she recalls that the male pilots accepted the situation faster than she expected.[2]

Gunjan Saxena flew an HAL Cheetah

Flying Officer Saxena was 24 years old when she flew during the Kargil War and was stationed in Srinagar.[3][7] In the Kargil War, as part of Operation Vijay, apart from evacuating the wounded[lower-alpha 1], she helped transport supplies to troops in the forward areas of Dras and Batalik. She also was assigned surveillance roles such as mapping enemy positions.[4] She had to deal with makeshift landing grounds, heights of 13,000 to 18,000 feet and enemy fire.[3] She was one of the ten pilots, and the only female pilot, based in Srinagar that flew hundreds of sorties during the war, evacuating over 900 casualties, wounded and killed[3][7] Saxena was the only woman in the Indian Armed Forces who flew into war zones in the Kargil War.[7] In 2004, her career as a helicopter pilot ended after serving for seven years.[4] Permanent commissions were not available during her time in service.[7]

Saxena's father Anup Saxena was a Lieutenant Colonel in Indian Army. Saxena's husband is Wing Commander Gautam Narain 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 one daughter Pragya, who was born in 2004.[4]

A chapter in the book Kargil Untold Stories From The War by Rachna Bisht Rawat focuses on Gunjan Saxena.[3]

The 2020 Bollywood film Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is inspired by her life.[2] Saxena is portrayed by Janhvi Kapoor while the film has been produced by Dharma Productions and Zee Studios. Saxena's's father and brother are played by Pankaj Tripathi and Angad Bedi respectively in other popular roles.[9]

After the film Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl released, there was a lot of confusion related to some facts about Saxena. In an article in NDTV she clarifies some of them:[10]

I was lucky and blessed to have so many firsts to my name in my years with the IAF. To list a few -- first in the order of merit during my basic training and also in helicopter training, the first woman to fly in a combat zone (mentioned in the Limca Book of Records), the first 'BG' (a coveted flying category) among women helicopter pilots and the first woman officer to undergo the jungle and snow survival course. There are other small achievements, but those are not of much significance to my story right now.

— Gunjan Saxena, NDTV

Neither I nor the filmmakers ever claimed I was a "Shaurya Chakra" awardee. After Kargil, I received the "Shaurya Veer" award from a civilian organisation in Uttar Pradesh. A certain section of the internet news possibly turned "Veer" into "Chakra". This has been clarified many times during my media interactions for the film's promotions.

— Gunjan Saxena, NDTV