August 8, 2026: War stories in Hindi cinema have developed a familiar language. There is the patriotic speech, the emotional family scene, the fearless soldier and, eventually, a climax designed to leave the audience applauding. Operation Safed Sagar enters that crowded space with a more interesting idea. What if the people behind the uniforms mattered as much as the war itself?
The Netflix series, set during the 1999 Kargil War, follows the Indian Air Force and the Golden Arrows squadron as young fighter pilots prepare for one of the most demanding operations of the conflict. Created by Abhijeet Singh Parmar and Kushal Srivastava, and directed by Oni Sen, the series has the advantage of a real story with real stakes.
It also has Siddharth and Jimmy Shergill at its centre, which gives the show an immediate sense of credibility.
Siddharth plays Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja with an unusual calm. Instead of introducing him as the larger than life hero who owns every room, the series presents him as someone who carries his authority quietly. His first appearance, arriving at the air base on an old scooter, is almost deliberately ordinary. Wing Commander Tony, played by Jimmy Shergill, quickly turns the moment into a joke about the age of the scooter and the MiG aircraft.
It is a small exchange, but it sets the mood for what follows.
The best parts of Operation Safed Sagar are often the moments between missions. The pilots tease one another, share meals and deal with the strange routines of life inside a military base. The tradition of juniors turning up at a senior’s home for dinner and ending up doing kitchen work is one of the show’s most enjoyable details.
These scenes make the characters feel like people rather than carefully assembled war movie heroes.
Operation Safed Sagar Review: Kargil From the Skies
The aerial sequences are equally effective in the opening stretch. The pilots train for precision missions, fly close formations and attempt to avoid enemy missiles. There is a clear Top Gun influence, but the show manages to use the familiar ingredients without turning every pilot into a swaggering action hero.
The younger cast also brings energy to the series. Abhay Verma, Mihir Ahuja, Taarukh Raina and Arnav Bhasin play the young pilots surrounding Ahuja and Tony. Among them, Abhay Verma gets the more substantial emotional material as Dhali, while Mihir Ahuja’s Baldy is given a storyline that connects his professional ambition with his personal life.
That relationship, however, is where the series briefly loses its rhythm. Baldy’s romance with Madhavi, played by Prajakta Koli, feels like it has arrived from a different show. There is nothing wrong with giving a war drama a romantic track, but the writing here feels too familiar. The character is also written in a way that gives Koli limited room to surprise the audience.
The political material is considerably more interesting. Operation Safed Sagar spends time looking at the Pakistani leadership during the Kargil conflict. Vinay Pathak plays Nawaz Sharif as a politician caught between competing forces, while Manu Rishi Chadha’s Musharraf carries the authority of the military establishment. The tension between political leadership, the army and the ISI gives the series a layer that many Hindi war dramas simply skip.
For a while, the show appears determined to treat the conflict as something more complicated than a simple battle between good and evil.
But once the fighting intensifies, that restraint begins to disappear.
The Pakistani side gradually moves towards the familiar portrayal of a ruthless enemy. There are moments where the series tries to retain some complexity, but they struggle to sit comfortably alongside scenes designed to provoke anger from the audience.
The same shift happens with the Indian side. The first half is more interested in people. The later episodes become increasingly interested in heroes.
The final stretch brings emotional confrontations, last minute plans and the kind of motivational exchanges that have become almost mandatory in Indian war dramas. The characters look at one another, the stakes are raised, another seemingly impossible mission appears and the story moves towards its expected destination.
The problem is that we already know where the war is heading.
That makes the execution especially important, and the finale sometimes relies too heavily on emotional manipulation. The deaths of soldiers are presented with considerable weight, but the show occasionally seems more interested in creating outrage than exploring the complicated cost of war.
This is where Operation Safed Sagar feels caught between two versions of itself.
One version is a grounded drama about young pilots, their friendships, families and fears. The other is a conventional patriotic war series that wants its audience to cheer when the mission succeeds.
The first version is far more compelling. The show’s real strength comes from the authenticity surrounding its central story. Group Captain Tarun Kumar Singha, who served as a defence ministry spokesman during the Kargil War, was involved with the project as its lead consultant. His connection to Ajay Ahuja adds an emotional dimension to the story, while former Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa has also spoken about the importance of bringing the Indian Air Force’s role in Kargil to the screen.
That background gives the series a solid foundation. And there is enough good material here to make the six episodes worth watching.
Siddharth brings dignity to Ahuja. Jimmy Shergill is naturally watchable as Tony, bringing warmth and authority without overplaying the character. The young pilots add camaraderie, and the training sequences provide some of the show’s most engaging entertainment.
Where the series stumbles is in its inability to fully trust its own quieter storytelling. It does not need every victory to come with a speech. It does not need every loss to become a device for anger. The story of young men flying into a dangerous conflict, while their families wait for news back home, already carries enough emotion.
Operation Safed Sagar is therefore an intriguing but uneven war drama. It begins by stripping away some of the usual noise surrounding patriotic cinema and succeeds in giving its soldiers personalities beyond their uniforms. Then, as the story approaches its climax, it starts speaking in the louder language it had spent so much time avoiding.
The irony is that the series is at its most powerful when it keeps the patriotism quiet. The pilots, the friendships, the families and the fear of what waits beyond the mountains are enough.
Verdict: 3.5/5
Operation Safed Sagar is a solid watch with strong performances, engaging aerial sequences and a welcome focus on the people behind the Kargil story. It comes close to becoming a thoughtful war drama, even if its final episodes pull it back towards familiar territory.
