The Kargil War of 1999 is almost synonymous with Operation Vijay, the Indian Army’s grand operation to win back strategic positions from the Pakistani Army and infiltrators in Jammu and Kashmir. A resounding victory for India immortalised Operation Vijay for generations. But not many know that the Army’s operation was supplemented – and in many places salvaged – by the Indian Air Force’s Operation Safed Sagar. Conducted in the snowy peaks of the Himalayas, Operation Safed Sagar is the little-known aerial war that India fought in 1999.
Now, a Netflix show is shedding light on this operation and the men behind it. Last year, on a rainy July day, Hindustan Times got special access to the show’s shoot, where we interacted with the actors – Jimmy Shergill and Siddharth – about what went into bringing Operation Safed Sagar to life.
The real Operation Safed Sagar was conducted at 18000 feet above sea level. The show took the adherence to reality quite seriously and much of the shoot was done at 16500 feet, with many of the actors themselves spending weeks at 13000 feet acclimatising. “My highest altitude was close to 13000 feet,” says Siddharth. The actor is all praise for the crew, many of whom braved altitude sickness to shoot at dizzying heights. “They have touched way greater heights than us, to put it mildly,” he adds.
Jimmy Shergill, who also plays an Air Force officer in the show, opens up on what went on behind the scenes. “I was there for 10 days. We have done those altitudes before. But this time, the field was different, the players were different. It was very raw. You have to go there a few days before you shoot to acclimatise. I told them you guys deserve some kind of an award for being here for one and a half months. So many of them fell sick but that is the kind of passion which drove them,” reveals the actor.
Jimmy says he is worried that after the show comes out, people will believe it is doable to shoot at those altitudes, not realising the risks the crew of Operation Safed Sagar took. “They are going to kill a lot of people after this because they will think: ‘These people shot for 1.5 months, we only have to do it for 20 days’. They won’t survive 3 days. If someone sends me again, I will run back,” he says with a laugh. The show’s co-creator and showrunner, Abhijeet Singh Parmar, responds, “We had no option. It’s called Safed Sagar, so we had to go where it is all white (snow). We didn’t know where else to find it.”
Siddharth plays Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, a Kargil war hero. This is his first time playing a fighter pilot. Talking about the challenges, he says, “My last project with Netflix (The Test) had me playing an Indian Test cricketer. I shot in Chepauk. You can ask me what preparation went into pretending to be a Test cricketer. 10 times that went into pretending to be a fighter pilot, because at some level, I have played cricket my whole life. But I have never sat in the cockpit of a plane. So a lot of hand-holding but that came from a place of great respect for the source material and for the team’s technical wizardry.”
Apart from Jimmy and Siddharth, Operation Safed Sagar also stars Abhay Verma, Dia Mirza, Prajakta Koli, Mihir Ahuja, Taaruk Raina, Arnav Bhasin, and Amrita Bagchi. Created by Abhijeet Singh Parmar and Kushal Srivastava, and directed by Oni Sen, the show streams on Netflix on August 7.