4 min learnMumbaiAug 24, 2026 08:17 AM IST
Oni Sen’s interval warfare drama Operation Safed Sagar, streaming on Netflix, has been incomes rave critiques from critics and viewers alike. The appreciation isn’t restricted to solely the correct depiction of the contribution of the Indian Air Power in the course of the 1999 Kargil Conflict between India and Pakistan, but additionally extends to its characters, primarily based on real-life warfare heroes. The chief amongst them is Squadron Chief Ajay Ahuja, performed by Siddharth.
Why Ajay Ahuja wasn’t depicted as bigger than life
Nonetheless, Operation Safed Sagar creators selected to not glorify Ahuja, however as a substitute depict him as an odd man in extraordinary circumstances. “We knew the viewers already knew the place his story was heading traditionally. So, making him bigger than life would even have made him much less fascinating to me,” co-creator Abhijeet Singh Parmar reasoned in a current interview.
“The extraordinary factor about Ajay sir is that he was a dutiful man who discovered himself in a rare circumstance. That’s what makes his story highly effective,” he instructed ET Now.
The ‘man behind the martyr’
Earlier than Operation Safed Sagar, Abhijeet Singh Parmar labored as a Inventive Producer on well-liked slice-of-life exhibits created by The Viral Fever (TVF) — Gullak and Panchayat, which served as his coaching floor in writing relatable characters. “Though I used to be not the creator of Gullak or Panchayat, working so carefully with these exhibits taught me one thing I carry with me. A personality doesn’t should be extraordinary for his or her story to be extraordinary,” he argued.
That’s precisely why he wished to know the “man behind the martyr”, when it got here to Ajay Ahuja — “What did he eat? How did he discuss to his spouse? What irritated him? What did he fear about? What did his associates tease him about?” Consulting Ajay’s spouse Alka Ahuja earlier than depicting her husband within the present additionally helped in shaping their refreshing perspective.
“Once we met Alka ma’am, we realised in a short time that Ajay sir couldn’t merely be a warfare hero in our story. He was her husband. He was somebody’s father, somebody’s buddy, somebody’s colleague and mentor to younger fighter pilots. The non-public tales gave us a glimpse of the person behind the uniform,” added Parmar, who wished the viewers to “mourn an individual they’ve come to know, love, and respect.”
No foreshadowing of Ajay Ahuja’s demise
Though Ajay Ahuja’s destiny is properly documented, the makers selected to not burden each scene of his earlier than that with foreshadowing. “We had been very aware of not making it sentimental. The hazard was that as a result of the viewers is aware of what’s going to occur to Ajay sir, each odd second might begin feeling like a goodbye. We didn’t need that,” reasoned Parmar.
“We wished the scene to really feel like two individuals who don’t know they’re residing by means of their final odd moments collectively. The smallest particulars had been extra vital to us than the large romantic gestures. We wished the connection to really feel like an actual marriage slightly than a cinematic love story,” he added, claiming that had he failed in doing that, he’d have failed Alka Ahuja.
“The viewers is aware of what’s coming. The characters don’t. So, the writing needed to respect that actuality. That can also be why these scenes should not written as recollections of a person who’s going to die. They’re written as moments within the lifetime of a person who believes he’s coming dwelling,” argued the creator, describing Operation Safed Sagar as a “character-driven drama set in opposition to the backdrop of Kargil Conflict” as a substitute of a standard warfare drama itself.
Additionally Learn — ‘We hate it’: IAF pilots told Operation Safed Sagar team to drop slow-mo walks, match Vijeta
Operation Safed Sagar additionally stars Jimmy Shergill, Dia Mirza, Amrita Bagchi, Abhay Verma, Mihir Ahuja, Prajakta Koli, Taaruk Raina, Adil Hussain, Barun Sobti, Rishi Chadha, Aanjjan Srivastav, Vinay Pathak and Sanjay Suri, amongst others.
