Operation Safed Sagar, streaming on Netflix from August 7, feels less like a career milestone and more like a dream fulfilled for its showrunner, creative director and former Indian Air Force personnel Kushal Srivastava.
The Netflix series revisits the Kargil War through a lens that has rarely found sustained space in popular storytelling: the role of the IAF. For Srivastava, however, this is not simply another military drama. It is a deeply personal homecoming to a world he once belonged to.
“I personally followed this story when it was happening in 1999 because it was the first televised war,” he recalls. "I was awaiting my joining letter when the Kargil War happened, and I joined the IAF in December that year."
Life, however, took an unexpected turn. After serving in the Air Force, Srivastava left the service in 2006 to pursue filmmaking, apprenticing under filmmaker J.P. Dutta before directing Vodka Diaries. Yet the story that had first inspired him never left him.
"I really think I was destined to tell this story," he says. "People call it a dream project, but I believe I was born for this."
Remembering their supreme sacrifice
Military dramas often pride themselves on authenticity, but Operation Safed Sagar demanded something deeper than technical accuracy. Srivastava spent years speaking to Air Force veterans and the families of officers who fought in the conflict. He calls the series a soldier’s tribute to two greats of the IAF, former Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa and fighter pilot Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, who was martyred in the Kargil War. “They are my real-life heroes.”
The research was emotionally overwhelming. "It wasn't one single moment," he says. "I cried many times." One conversation, however, remains impossible to forget. When he met Alka, the wife of Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, she told him she had very few moving images of her husband. "It broke my heart," Srivastava says. "I promised her we would give her the best video she could be proud of."
That promise eventually became larger than a single scene. It became the emotional responsibility of recreating lives that could no longer speak for themselves.
Getting the soul of the Air Force right
As showrunner, Srivastava found himself balancing multiple responsibilities—writer, producer, creative supervisor and custodian of historical memory. Yet he insists no single person carried the project. "Nobody was playing just one role. Everyone gave their blood and sweat to it. Everyone adopted it like their own."
His own priority, however, never changed. "My main concern was to ensure that we translated the soul of the Indian Air Force correctly while maintaining the dignity of these people."
Indian cinema, he believes, has often folded the Air Force into a broader, undifferentiated military narrative. "We have always seen the Air Force as part of the Army on screen. But life in the Air Force is entirely different. It was my responsibility to show audiences what makes it unique."
That distinction shapes the series as much as its battle sequences.
The creative freedom
Recreating real heroes is a privilege that comes with invisible boundaries. "These officers don't like to be shown doing something they never did," Srivastava says. "You have to be careful where you draw the line while taking creative liberty, especially with those who are no longer here to defend themselves."
He also believes that humility is one reason many Air Force stories remain untold. "These people never boast about what they have achieved. Maybe that's why it took one of their own to come out and tell their story."
It is a revealing observation. Rather than embellishing heroism, Srivastava seems more interested in preserving its quiet dignity.
For Srivastava, the series was never intended to celebrate war. If anything, it seeks to remind viewers of its human cost. He credits his mentor, filmmaker J.P. Dutta, with shaping that philosophy. "My guru taught me one thing about war stories," he says. "Tell them so people never forget the heroes who fought so we can live normal lives. But also tell them in a way that makes people understand the cost at which the war was won, so that no one waits for the next war."
That idea runs through Operation Safed Sagar. The focus remains not on spectacle but on sacrifice.
A generation born after 1999 will experience the Kargil War largely through history books or cinematic outings. Srivastava hopes younger audiences see something more nuanced than patriotic slogans. "We never tried to tell a patriotic story," he says. "We wanted to tell the story of hardcore professionals who simply did their best so their buddy could be proud of them and inspire others to do their best."
A story that shaped him
Years spent living with the events of 1999 have inevitably left their mark. Yet Srivastava believes his understanding of courage was shaped even before he entered cinema. “I am probably the only filmmaker in the world who is trained by the Air Force,” he says with a smile. If the Air Force taught him courage, Operation Safed Sagar taught him something equally valuable. “The heroism of ACM Dhanoa, the sacrifice of Sqn Ldr Ahuja and the camaraderie of Golden Arrows are unprecedented. Kargil was the toughest air war ever fought in the world; we, as Indians, should be proud of it, but instead, most of us are unaware of it. Hence, this is my tribute to the air warriors, albeit on the big screen,” he says.
Perhaps that is the defining quality of Operation Safed Sagar. It is not merely a recreation of military history, nor simply a tribute to courage under fire. It is the work of a filmmaker returning to the institution that first shaped him, determined to honour its people with honesty, dignity and gratitude.
The backstory
For the uninitiated, Golden Arrows was raised on October 1, 1951, in Ambala and was based in Bathinda during the Kargil War. Living up to their motto, Arise Forever, they flew in the most challenging and highest terrains in the world, where flying and bombing were impossible for any air force. When a co-pilot had to eject during the war, Sqn Ldr Ahuja decided to go beyond the call of duty to ‘Never leave his wingman behind’. While doing so, he was hit by a Stinger missile and laid down his life. He was awarded the Vir Chakra for his bravery. The primary role of Golden Arrows was photo recce. But when Dhanoa, a trained fighter pilot, lost Ahuja, he converted his aircraft into a bomber. He set a new benchmark in the world by undertaking the maximum bombing missions in the war and leading India to victory, making Golden Arrows the most decorated squadron in the IAF during the war. Dhanoa later became the Chief of the Indian Air Force and was behind another successful operation, the Balakot strikes. As Chief of the Indian Air Force, Dhanoa paid tribute to Sq Ldr Ahuja and other martyrs of the Kargil War by flying a ‘missing man’ formation in a Mig-21.
