Karan Johar’s ‘Gunjan Saxena - The Kargil Girl’ to directly release on Netflix

Filmmaker Karan Johar on Tuesday announced that his upcoming production, "Gunjan Saxena- The Kargil Girl", starring actor Janhvi Kapoor, is all set to bypass a theatrical release and stream directly on Netflix.

The film is based on the life of Gunjan Saxena, then a flying officer, who became the first woman combat aviator to fly into a war zone during the 1999 Kargil War.

Johar took to Twitter to post a one minute-long clip, chronicling the life of Saxena.

"Her inspirational journey made history. This is her story. Gunjan Saxena - #TheKargilGirl, coming soon on Netflix. #GunjanSaxenaOnNetflix," he captioned the video.

The release date of the film is yet to be announced.

Presented by Zee Studios and Dharma Productions, the film, also featuring Pankaj Tripathi and Viineet Kumar, was earlier slated to be released on April 24.

There were rumours about the film going for a digital release and now the movie officially joins a list of other Bollywood titles, including Amitabh Bachchan-Ayushmann Khurrana starrer "Gulabo Sitabo" and Vidya Balan's "Shakuntala Devi" biopic which are slated to debut on Amazon Prime Video, to directly head to a streamer during the coronavirus pandemic.

Streaming platform Netflix also took to Twitter to make the announcement quoting a dialogue from the film.

"Plane ladka udaye ya ladki, usse pilot hi kehte hain"- Gunjan Saxena - The Kargil Girl, arriving soon. #GunjanSaxenaOnNetflix," the tweet read.

Kapoor, who plays the titular role in the movie, said "Gunjan Saxena" was much more than a film for her.

"This isn't just a film for me - it's a journey that's taught me to believe in myself. A journey I can't wait to share with you all. About a girl who set out to do something simple, follow her dreams," she wrote on Instagram.

The actor made her Bollywood debut in 2018 with Johar's production "Dhadak", the Hindi remake of Marathi blockbuster "Sairat".

"Gunjan Saxena" is directed by Sharan Sharma, who shares writing credits with Nikhil Mehrotra. Hussain Dalal has been credited with additional dialogue writing.