7 min readMumbaiAug 26, 2026 08:00 AM IST
One of the unsung heroes of Netflix India’s new period war drama Operation Safed Sagar is its co-creator Kushal Srivasatava. The filmmaker, a nephew of late stand-up comedian Raju Srivastav, made his directorial debut with the 2018 thriller Vodka Diaries. But prior to that, he served for six years in the Indian Air Force himself, as Equipment Assistant in the Logistics department. He then quit the force, and worked as an assistant director under war film veteran JP Dutta, before returning to base for the most unexpected reason — to make his own film.
How Operation Safed Sagar took shape
“After my first film Vodka Diaries released, Junglee Pictures had reached out for a subject on women fighter pilots. They knew I was in the air force for six years,” Kushal tells SCREEN in an exclusive interview. “We approached the Indian Air Force together, but they said, ‘It’s not the right time. Since the women fighter pilots have just started, we don’t want to disturb them,’” recalls the filmmaker.
However, knowing that Kushal would do a fair job of depicting the Indian Air Force, thanks to his own lived-in experience, they suggested another subject — Operation Safed Sagar. It encompassed the lesser known contribution of the IAF in leading India to victory in the 1999 Kargil War against Pakistan. “Since Junglee Pictures wanted to make a film on only the women fighter pilots, I grabbed the opportunity, began researching, and went to the bases in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, and Pune to understand the story better,” adds Kushal.
Vinay Pathak (center) as Nawaz Sharif in Operation Safed Sagar.
Kushal Srivasatava was already familiar with the key characters of the story, particularly Golden Arrows’ Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, played by Siddharth in the show Operation Safed Sagar. In his quest to follow and save a fallen pilot, Ahuja got hit and his parachute drifted across the Line of Control. He was subsequently captured, tortured, and killed by the Pakistani army. But before he became a war legend, his fate was unknowingly linked to Kushal’s delayed induction into the Indian Air Force.
“I’d taken the air force entrance exam, but my call letter wasn’t coming. They even said I’ve cleared the exam. I was trying to understand what was happening. Two pilots had been captured in Pakistan and made prisoners of war. I was tracking it very closely,” reveals Kushal. But as he joined the IAF, Ajay Ahuja rightly became an example for budding soldiers like him. “The story of not leaving a buddy behind stayed with me all this while. The brotherhood that Ajay Ahuja showed by following his fellow pilot, we were given that same training once I joined. So, that was a very important part of my life,” says Kushal.
Siddharth as Ajay Ahuja in Operation Safed Sagar.
Bringing authenticity to air force depiction
Kushal Srivasatava’s first-hand experience in the Indian Air Force helped shape Operation Safed Sagar as much as his will to give it up one day and pursue his passion of filmmaking. That perspective of looking beyond one’s duty to the nation and recognising one’s responsibilities towards life outside the forces is also reflected in many of the show’s characters. But to Kushal, that balance came in fairly organically. “I understood that world. But when I discussed it with Abhijeet (Singh Parmar, co-creator), he found it extraordinary. We thought the soul of the Indian Air Force is very unique, so we’d keep these aspects as they are,” says Kushal.
“There’s a Dilip Kumar dialogue, ‘Hum log baat sachchi karte hain, achhi apne aap lag jati hai.‘ That’s how it was,” he adds, quoting from one passion to justify the depiction of another. Even though he left behind the IAF over two decades ago, his hope is for people of the current generation to watch Operation Safed Sagar and join the force. “I’ve already met two children, around six to seven years of age, who told me they want to join the Indian Air Force after watching this show,” he says, smiling. He also believes the impact is gradual, yet pervasive, as is demonstrated by a fairly articulate comment on the trailer of the show that caught his attention — “You’ve made the air force entrance exam very tough now.”
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Even Kushal’s fellow co-creator Abhijeet Singh Parmar received an unexpected message — from a friend of 28 years ago. “The headline of the very long message was, ‘From a soldier and a school friend.’ He’s in the army, and fought in Kargil War. He went on to say the forces are feeling seen by the show, and are very happy this is what’s going out as the authentic portrayal of them,” Parmar tells SCREEN.
As a Creative Producer on TVF’s acclaimed slice-of-life shows Gullak and Panchayat, Parmar has built a career around finding the human stories within larger narratives. That instinct has served him well on Operation Safed Sagar. “The audience is connecting with the moments of truth in the show. From the very beginning, we didn’t want to manufacture heroism because we wanted to show people who were already heroic. But they were also scared, vulnerable, lonely, in love, and missing home. What we were going for was human vulnerability and adversity,” he argues.
Tanya Bami, Series Head, Netflix India, points out that even though Operation Safed Sagar tells a story from “almost three decades ago”, it’s brought a crucial piece of Indian history closer to the audience. “The unravelling of this show will last much longer than any other. I expect it to be a much longer conversation and emotion than the feel and now. I don’t think we’ve summed it up. We’ve just begun,” she tells SCREEN. That’s why it was a no-brainer for her team to mount the show like it has been, having pumped up Rs 215 crore into the Indian economy through its making.
Also Read — Operation Safed Sagar: Why creators chose not to make Ajay Ahuja ‘larger than life’
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Tanya considers Operation Safed Sagar to be in the same league of ambition as Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s 2024 period drama Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar and Aryan Khan’s satirical show The Ba***ds of Bollywood. “As Abhijeet and Kushal walked into our office to discuss the story with us, we knew it was extremely ambitious, but at the same time, extremely poignant, very emotional, and something India would connect with. For Operation Safed Sagar to become a symbol of national pride in the 10th year of Netflix India, it’s a risk we’d take every time. We’d back this again, a hundred times yes,” she asserts.
