The Indian Express film critic Shubhra Gupta gave Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl 2.5 stars. She wrote in her review, “Gunjan Saxena: The Kargil Girl is a mixed bag. What’s nice is the restraint, and lack of fuss with which the film is done. Trumpets don’t blast our ears every time there’s a sortie, even though Gunjan does get her backlit ‘Top Gun’ moment, as she strides out to the field from the hangar, uniformed and ready to go. The difficulty of being a lone female amongst a bunch of young men, bristling under the pressure of having to salute a woman, or having to watch their tongue, is all there. But staying away from high-pitch shouldn’t come off as lack of drama: even as the film follows its required beats, with Gunjan struggling against the standard ‘fauji’ what-are-women-doing-here misogyny, training and finally being able to take off, fighting off the enemy and rescuing injured colleagues, it stays a tad too sedate. We see Gunjan flying into peril, but our hearts are never in our mouths.”

Churails was another important release. It is now streaming on ZEE5. The Pakistani show centres around four women who come from different walks of life – lawyer, wedding planner, boxer and ex-convict, who band together to form a detective agency to spy on cheating husbands. Their idea is an instant hit, and more women join their team until they hit a roadblock.

Shubhra Gupta said about the show, “But while the churails going all Charlie’s Angels is good for some fun-and-games, the real strength of the series comes from getting up close and very personal with the women. Sometimes it bites off more than it can chew: colourism, racism, classism, elitism is all thrown into the mix. But some of the quite brave elements—men and women and same-sex love, for example—are done with empathy. And the most effective parts are the ones which are quiet, where we see the vulnerability and the pain of women, rich or poor. Their stories—a Zubaida being tricked into an arranged marriage, a Batul losing her daughter, a Sara being gaslit by her treacherous spouse, a Jugnu drowning her sorrows—are universal.”