Operation Safed Sagar Makers Fix Tricolour Error After Indian Army Veteran’s Objection - EXCLUSIVE

Colonel Vembu Shankar, an Indian Army veteran, has raised concerns over a scene in the Netflix web series Operation Safed Sagar: The Untold Story of the Kargil War, alleging that the Indian National Flag has been incorrectly draped over the coffin of Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, portrayed by Siddharth in the show.

The veteran shared a screen grab from the series on his Instagram handle, pointing out a scene featuring Mihir Ahuja as Flying Officer C.H. Bal Reddy, aka Baldy, and Abhay Verma as Flying Officer Rajpal Singh Dhaliwal, aka Dhali, carrying Ahuja's coffin as pallbearers. According to the veteran, the coffin is draped in the Indian National Flag, but the positioning of the Tricolour does not comply with the Flag Code of India.

In fact, in the real footage shown in the series depicts the saffron band positioned towards the head of the deceased officer. However, in the recreated scene, the green portion of the flag is reportedly visible, prompting the veteran to argue that the saffron band should have been positioned towards the head.

The veteran also expressed shock that the alleged error had not been noticed during production, particularly by the authorities at Service Headquarters and the military advisers associated with the series.

“I am shocked how the authorities at the Service Headquarters and the military advisors have overlooked this fact,” the veteran said.

He further called for the makers and those responsible for the scene to issue an apology through mainstream media.

Operation Safed Sagar (OSS) is about the Golden Arrows Squadron of the Indian Air Force who led an extraordinary historic, high-altitude mission that altered the course of the 1999 Kargil War and made history as the world’s highest air operation. The series has ben hailed for its technical brilliance, avoiding jingoism and the acting. It stars Jimmy Shergill, Siddharth, Dia Mirza and others.

From all the reactions in the comments section, the one which stood out was by one individual who stated, “Sir with all due respect, the pointing of an oversight is a good learning point for future but surely its not a deal breaker for the series which has been made to depict the love, sheer dedication and commitment of the Air Force and their sacrifices made during the Kargil war for the sake of the nation. Its a beautifully made series to depict history and make younger generations proud and inspired. Appreciate your sentiments as you are a war veteran and even the smallest detail is of great importance but surely look at the bigger picture here which is to inspire a whole new generation of youngsters in a very positive way. Please do write to the makers but dont make a big issue and certainly pls dont ask for the screening to be stopped.” (sic)

Colonel Vembu Shankar also responded to the individual, saying, “Take it down until the edit is done. Which should not take much time. Can easily be done in matter of minutes. In fact it appears for less than a second. All the producers need to do it edit the scene for that micro second.”

Colonel Vembu Shankar is an Indian Army veteran, Shaurya Chakra recipient, and renowned autograph collector with over 10,000 celebrity signatures. He is also the founder of Project Sambandh, a non-profit initiative dedicated to supporting the next-of-kin survivors of military personnel.

The Free Press Journal reached out to Colonel Vembu Shankar asking him about his thoughts and whether he had seen the full series, and he replied telling us that the producers go in touch with him, and the mistake has been corrected.

“I have seen the full series. It has been very well made. It'll inspire a lot of people to know about our heroes and the contribution of the Indian Air Force. There is nothing against the series that I have. It is just a small glitch of the national flag which was wrongly depicted, but now it has been corrected. I got a message from the producers that it has been corrected,” he told us.