Operation Safed Sagar Launch: ‘Heroes Don’t Look Like Heroes’

‘They become heroes because of their actions.’

“It took 27 years, but at least this story is finally being told.”

That sentiment summed up the mood at the trailer launch of Netflix’s military drama Operation Safed Sagar.

The event wasn’t just about introducing a series, it became a celebration of the Indian Air Force. The room carried a sense of pride as the cast stood alongside IAF veterans, the families of officers, and the real people who inspired this story.

Operation Safed Sagar revisits one of the least explored chapters of the Kargil War: The IAF’s historic aerial campaign launched on May 26, 1999, in support of Operation Vijay.

The venue itself echoed that emotion, with military-inspired aesthetics, a cinematic air force backdrop, and the motto of the Indian Air Force Nabh Sparsham Deeptam (Touch The Sky With Glory) glowing across the giant screen.

The women of Operation Safed Sagar

The evening opened on a deeply symbolic note.

The women of the show — Dia Mirza, Prajakta Koli, Amrita Bagchi — walked onto the stage carrying diyas as a tribute to the women and families of soldiers.

Summing up the emotional strength of her character, Dia later said, “Jung pe vidaa karne se zyada mushkil hota hai muskurate hue vidaa karna (It is more difficult to say goodbye with a smile than to say goodbye to war).”

The most emotional moment of the evening belonged to Siddharth who portrays Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja. Fighting back tears, he admitted he was initially reluctant to take up the role.

“I was scared,” he confessed.

“Heroes don’t look like heroes. They become heroes because of their actions. When someone is a martyr, we often create an image of perfection. I didn’t want to do injustice to somebody’s memory.”

His biggest concern wasn’t the performance. It was permission.

Siddharth revealed that he kept asking the makers if Ajay Ahuja’s wife Alka Ahuja agreed to this story being told. For him, that mattered more than anything.

Later, Alka Ahuja came on stage to answer a journalist’s question, and everyone on the stage stood up as a mark of respect.

Recalling her husband with a smile, she shared, “When we got married, Ajay told me, ‘You are my second wife. Air Force is my first wife’.”

“I don’t have any videos of Ajay. All I have is an image of him. At least now, with this show, I have an image of Ajay.”

Siddharth was visibly emotional, wiping away tears as she spoke.

The Operation Safed Sagar trailer follows the Golden Arrows Squadron as they undertake what remains the world’s highest air operation. It packs in everything you would expect from a military drama with fighter jets, high-altitude missions, sleek action, tension and emotion.

Its final line by Jimmy Shergill lands like a punch: ‘Ab ya toh hum itihaas bana denge, ya ban jayenge.’

WATCH: Dia Mirza: ‘Even the women who marry into the air force don’t know what to expect’

Jimmy Shergill’s unfulfilled dream

Shergill, who portrays then Wing Commander (later Air Chief Marshal) Birender Singh ‘Tony’ Dhanoa, admitted that he wasn’t fully aware of the IAF’s remarkable contribution during the Kargil War until this project came along.

Sharing a personal memory, the actor revealed that joining the armed forces was once his dream.

“I had scored 90 per cent. Still, I didn’t make the cut. There was so much competition then. Nowadays, I feel no one is interested in joining the armed forces. Everyone wants to do films. All have been given a phone, and they just want to make reels on it. Who will fight for the nation then? the actor asked.

He stressed that a show like Operation Safed Sagar matters, especially for younger audiences.

“Don’t look at this as a story that took 27 years to be told. Look at it as a story that is finally being told,” he said.

WATCH: Why Jimmy Shergill didn’t miss his phone on the Operation Safed Sagar sets

The younger cast — Mihir Ahuja, Taaruk Raina, Abhay Verma, Arnav Bhasin — fondly remembered observing Siddharth and Jimmy Shergill on set and feeling inspired.

When asked what they learned from their co-stars, all four of them spoke about growing up watching Jimmy Shergill and Siddharth’s films. That admiration quickly turned into a running joke.

Being implied as “senior actors”, both Shergill and Siddharth were left with amused smiles.

Not missing the opportunity, Siddharth looked at Adil Hussain and quipped, “I have grown up watching Adil sir. You have done such selective work that I have grown up very slowly!”

The joke returned when a curious journalist asked Siddharth why he is wearing a cast on his arm. The actor playfully revealed he underwent a minor operation before dismissing it as “regular wear and tear”.

“Old age, they call it,” he quipped.

WATCH: Did Mihir Ahuja embarrass Siddharth and Jimmy Shergill?

Director Oni Sen explained that extensive research went into Operation Safed Sagar as they spent months consulting Indian Air Force veterans and families, and filming at operational IAF bases using real aircraft and military infrastructure.

“The focus was always on telling the story with honesty, scale and emotional truth,” SEN said.

Creator Kushal Srivastava, who previously served in the Indian Air Force, shared that the responsibility behind telling a story of this magnitude always outweighed the scale of the production.

The team’s aim, as he said, is to create something that would make the air force and the families of its heroes proud.

WATCH: Prajakta Koli’s fond memories of Operation Safed Sagar

Operation Safed Sagar premieres on Netflix on August 7.

Photograph curated by Satish Bodas/Rediff