Actor Janhvi Kapoor accepts her privileged background and how she has has gained from it. Speaking to journalist Barkha Dutt, Janhvi said she has been ‘extremely lucky’.
“I haven’t had to deal with the kind of things that most women have to deal with. Because I do come from a slightly more privileged background and so I have been extremely lucky in the way that I have been treated and the opportunities that I have gotten,” she said. Janhvi was joined on the interview by Gunjan Saxena, a former Air Force pilot whom Janhvi plays in her upcoming biopic, Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl.
“I don’t think I have anything to complain about, but hearing her story, being in a simulated environment, when knowing that she’s been in probably these real situations, I don’t know if I can say maybe sympathise, but it made me come close to watch it may have been like, and it, of course, broadened my horizon and perspective of what women might be going through,” Janhvi added.
Talking about every day sexism that she sometimes has to deal with, Janvhi said that sometimes during narrations, the filmmaker pays more attention, makes eye contact with the male actor. Janhvi said she would earlier try to justify this to herself saying that maybe the male actor had a more important role. “But then I realised that maybe it’s just some sort of subliminal conditioning that is making them do that,” she said.
Janhvi said in the interview that she had a very different expectation of Gunjan before meeting her. She said Gunjan didn’t think of herself as a hero but only said that she was doing her job. Gunjan, along with Flight Lieutenant Srividya Rajan, was the first Indian women in combat during the Kargil war. The two pilots flew the Cheetah helicopters for casualty evacuation and reconnaissance for which they often flew close to Pakistani positions. It was much before the Indian Air Force commissioned women fighter pilots.
Recently, Janhvi shared three stills from the film and wrote, “Proud to bring to you the story of India’s first woman Air Force Officer to go to war. A journey that I hope will inspire you the way that it has inspired me. GunjanSaxena – The Kargil Girl is landing on 12th August to your #Netflix screens!” The first still shows Janhvi standing proudly in uniform, the second still shows her giving her onscreen father Pankaj a warm hug and the third shows Angad Bedi in an army uniform.
Directed by Sharan Sharma, the film also stars Viineet Kumar, Manav Vij and Ayesha Raza in pivotal roles.
