Operation Safed Sagar
Director: Oni Sen
Cast: Siddharth, Jimmy Shergill, Abhay Verma, Mihir Ahuja, Dia Mirza, Amrita Bagchi, Prajakta Koli, Manu Rishi Chaddha, Vinay Pathak, Taaruk Raina, Arnav Bhasin
Rating: ★★★.5
Both Jimmy Shergill and Siddharth starred in patriotic films released over 20 years ago that had one common theme. Both Agnipankh and Rang De Basanti talked of love for the nation without any bloodlust, chest-beating, or loudness. Perhaps that should have been a sign that when the two actors came together for a retelling of one of the Kargil War’s most daring operations, the same tone would follow. Operation Safed Sagar is as much an ode to the Indian Air Force as it is a love letter to the quiet stories of patriotism, ones that don’t need the viewer to hate an enemy but just marvel at our own soldiers. The show manages that with some stunning visuals, the kind hardly ever seen on Indian screens, and measured performances, making it a complete package.
What is it about
Operation Safed Sagar is based on the true account of the Indian Air Force’s mission during the Kargil War. It follows the Golden Arrows, a real squadron of IAF pilots trained for reconnaissance missions and eventually used to bomb enemy bases at 18,000 feet above sea level, a height at which no air force in the world had ever dared to fight. The show follows Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja (Siddharth) and Wing Commander Tony Dhanoa (Jimmy Shergill) as they train a bunch of talented but novice pilots even as the Pakistani Army, led by General Musharraf (Manu Rishi Chaddha), crosses the LoC to seize Kashmir in the winter of 1999. Combining real emotions with war strategies seamlessly, Operation Safed Sagar gives you a neat, engaging watch that not only tugs at your heart but, more importantly, also raises your spirits.
The attention to detail and reality
It’s a sign of the times that Indian films and shows are increasingly using real names in reality-based narratives. There are very few deviations from reality and almost no merging of characters or changes of names. That is why Ajay Ahuja, Tony Dhanoa, Kambampati Nachiketa, and even Pervez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif are named. The show even gives Easter eggs like General Tauqir Zia taking over Pakistan cricket, and PM Vajpayee’s ambitious Delhi-Lahore bus service. Some of the frames almost identically recreate photos from history, but without it looking like a gimmick. But most importantly, Safed Sagar gets the IAF right, from the traditions and protocols to even the uniforms.
Visuals never seen before on Indian TV
What elevates Operation Safed Sagar above just about any other show about the Indian armed forces is the way the aerial action has been filmed. Even though we have seen more than our fair share of aerial actioners in the last few years (Fighter, Tejas, Sky Force), Safed Sagar outdoes them in a fraction of their budget. The show brings realism to the cockpit scenes and makes the jets in the air feel not only real but also thrilling. That makes the suspension of disbelief easy and immerses the viewer in this world very naturally. It also helps that, for a change, the actors do look like pilots and appear to know what they are doing in the jets.
Subtle but not soft
The show takes an approach to patriotism and depiction of war that is increasingly uncommon in India of late. There are nuance and subtlety, but not at the cost of objectivity. The Indian Air Force is still the hero, and the Pakistani aggressors the villain. But neither does it deify the heroes nor does it caricature the villains. Both are humans with human motivations. The best example of that is how the show portrays General Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif. Musharraf’s vitriol is not hidden. His ambition to annex Kashmir is laid out in the open, and his propensity to lie (even to his Prime Minister) to that end is shown quite brazenly. And despite this, he is not a cigar-smoking moustache-twirling villain that Indian films have come to love of late. He is motivated not by hatred towards India but by self-interest.
Nawaz Sharif, on the other hand, is portrayed as a clueless, if slightly better-intentioned, politician. Both antagonists have traits that Indian stories have used before. But here, they feel like living, breathing human beings, and the show achieves this without ever showing them in a sympathetic light.
Operation Safed Sagar has flaws. The emotional quotient does not hit as hard as it should in a war drama. The loss of a soldier needs to hit the viewer harder. The narrative needs to slow down for a bit longer in that instant. Death is something one should not gloss over, particularly in a long-form show. The show attempts that but falls just short. Perhaps that detachment (partially) from that loss so easily fails to elevate the final stakes in a manner that it ought to have. The victory is still sweet, just not as sweet as it could have been.
The verdict
Regardless, the show is a triumph. It is a tribute that does not turn into a hagiography. It salutes the men and women who sacrificed their lives for the country not long ago, and also praises an institution that does not often receive the praise it deserves for the risks it takes. Watch Operation Safed Sagar, for it is a unique show, and one that I hope inspires more of its kind.
Operation Safed Sagar is streaming on Netflix.