Operation Safed Sagar lets its missions do the patriotic heavy lifting, proving a war story doesn’t always need loud monologues when the stakes are already sky-high!
As a child, Independence Day week meant preparing a dance performance, waving tricolour flags, watching the flag unfurl and ending the day with a samosa party. As I’ve grown older, however, the week has started bringing with it a little more dread. Not because celebrating India’s independence means any less, but because the nationalistic feeling around it can sometimes become exhausting. From films to shows, everything seems to be chasing that one feeling of keeping your josh high, until the constant bombardment almost makes you tired of being told how patriotic you should feel. Which is why, around this time of the year, I find myself more apprehensive about the content that comes with Independence Day than excited for it. But sometimes, one show can change that perspective. For me, Operation Safed Sagar does the trick!
Set against the Kargil War, the six-episode series takes the Indian Air Force’s role in the conflict as its entry point, following a young group of officers as they train, prepare and eventually find themselves applying everything they’ve learnt to an actual war. At the centre of this training unit are Tony (Jimmy Shergill) and Ajay Ahuja (Siddharth), senior officers tasked with preparing a young squadron that includes Dhali (Abhay Verma), Sangy (Taaruk Raina), Baldy (Mihir Ahuja) and others for the possibility of combat.
And from the very first episode, the show’s intention is clear. Tony makes it known that for the IAF, the priority is to fight for the country; diplomacy and politics are for those whose job it is to handle them. That becomes the show’s guiding principle, at least initially. The first few episodes largely stay inside the Bathinda air base, where these young officers learn to fly MiG sorties, understand the risks of aerial combat and, more importantly, learn how to function as a team. Because this isn’t about a bunch of hotshot pilots flying solo. It is about learning to trust the person flying beside you, overcoming individual fears and understanding that in a war, one person’s mistake can put an entire team at risk. The training gives the show an almost Top Gun-like camaraderie, where we have all sorts of officers – cocky, ingenious, emotional, and level-headed. But it also establishes the emotional stakes before the characters are thrown into the actual conflict.
