Director: Oni Sen
Cast: Siddharth, Jimmy Shergill, Abhay Verma, Dia Mirza, Prajakta Koli, Adil Hussain, Mihir Ahuja, Taaruk Raina, Arnav Bhasin, and Amrita Bagchi
Where: Netflix
Rating: 4 Stars
Operation Safed Sagar (OSS) is about the untold story of 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. Directed by Oni Sen, the series has been created by Abhijeet Singh Parmar and Kushal Srivastava.
I started watching OSS thinking that this should have been a movie and they stretched themselves too thin by making it into a series, but soon enough I was convinced that not only is it a great series but it's better than the daddy of all fighter plane movies, Tom Cruise's Top Gun (1986).
Actors Performances
Siddharth as Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja seems to be the apt example of the word 'dhairya'- someone who has seen it all and is a true leader and not scared of taking tough, seemingly unpopular decisions. He is almost perfect. Jimmy Shergill as Wing Commander B.S. Dhanoa ‘Tony’has that therav and demands respect, a may i say, doesn't play the Sikh leader, but becomes him.
Mihir Ahuja as Flying Officer C.H. Bal Reddy ‘Baldy’ is a solid fit for someone who's juggling the complex situation between an urgent love matter and flying the fastest jet on the planet. Abhay Verma as Flying Officer R.S. Dhaliwal ‘Dhali’ plays the typical fighter pilot for whom winning at any cost comes first and feelings don't really affect him, initially atleast. Taaruk Raina as Flight Lieutenant Jitendra Sangwan ‘Sangy’ and Arnav Bhasin as Flying Officer Amit Gupta ‘Goofy’ do their director proud.
Manu Rishi Chadha as Pervez Musharraf turned out to be the right choice for the series to play the sinister, scheming army chief, except for the fact that Musharraf was, of course, of a slimmer build.
Vinay Pathak as Nawaz Sharif was an interesting choice. Amrita Bagchi is like a manual in playing Air Force families and she should probably get invitations to all their house parties from now on. Prajakta Koli seems to have seamlessly blended from her identity as a content creator to an actress in her own stead. Dia Mirza shines in that scene when she tells her husband to go to war.
Direction
In one of the first airborne scenes when two pilots go through a phase of lightning you can actually feel the tension and as if you are inside the cockpit itself. You can feel the thrill of being up there at chaotic speeds in the clouds, reminiscent of arguably the finest fighter jet movies ever, Top Gun.
In a six episode series, there is always the risk of moments that lag and seem unnecessary. OSS doesn't have any, and neither does it resort to jingoism, instead relies on quiet courage and dialogues that hit their mark without shouting them out loud.
FPJ Verdict
Not only does OSS give us an inside peek into the seemingly unsurmountable challenges that the Indian Air Force faced during the Kargil War operations, but also what happened inside the politics of Pakistan and what led to the war. So should you watch this series? Unequivocally, every Indian needs to watch it.
