Janhvi Kapoor has the tough task of shouldering a biopic in her second feature film, Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl. Assured and excited in equal measure, the actor says, above all, she is proud to breathe life into the role of the country's first woman Indian Air Force officer to go to war.

Before the shoot began, Kapoor and debutant director Sharan Sharma visited Gunjan Saxena in Jamnagar where she was based at the time. "I had imagined her as an aggressive and tough officer. But she was gentle and warm in her demeanour," says Kapoor, over a Zoom call. "She narrated her journey of becoming an air force pilot. She made it sound so simple that I asked Sharan if there was a story to be told here. But later, I realised that she viewed it as a smooth-sailing journey because she did not count any of the obstacles as hindrances. She learnt from them and propelled ahead."