In an open letter to the Outlook, Namrita Chandi, a retired Wing Commander, accused Netflix and Dharma Productions of peddling lies to the world. The letter read, “Srividya Rajan was the first lady pilot who flew to Kargil – not Gunjan Saxena. Though I am certain that Srividya has no complaints about the credit being taken away from her.” It further included how the movie Gunjan Saxena: the Kargil Girl had been twisting facts and showing male Indian Air force officers in poor light.
She also refuted the portrayal of prejudice against women as shown in the movie saying that she had never faced abuse or maltreatment and that in all of 15 years of service, the officers had even stood guard outside the changing rooms, as they have been lack of facilities in certain regions. She added that male pilots had flown more extensively and faced more hardships and yet had never sought any publicity.
Srividya Rajan herself took to Facebook upon seeing the movie and expressed her shock over the misdirection. She wrote, “Both of us were posted to Udhampur in 1996 but in the movie, it was shown that she was the only lady pilot posted at the unit. Since the two of us were the first lady pilots to be posted to that helicopter unit, we were sceptical about our acceptance in the male-dominated niche area of flying.”
She added, saying, “I was the first woman pilot to be sent along with the male counterparts in the first detachment of our unit which was deployed at Srinagar. After a few days of operation, Gunjan Saxena came to Srinagar with the next set of crew. We actively participated in all operations given to us which included casualty evacuation, supply drop, communication sorties, SAR (search and rescue).”