6 min readMumbaiAug 28, 2026 08:11 AM IST
Ever since Oni Sen’s period war drama Operation Safed Sagar released on Netflix India earlier this month, Siddharth has been waiting for only one review. The actor, who plays Kargil War hero and Golden Arrows Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja in the show, was in tears — and has been since — ever since he got a thumbs-up from Ajay’s wife, Alka Ahuja. Alka, who refused to comment on the show at the trailer launch because “she hadn’t watched it” by then, finally got around to doing that. And one of the first people she reached out to after that was Siddharth.
Siddharth’s ‘best review’
“I’m very happy to tell you I’ve got my best review from Alka ma’am. I also speak to her every day, so I get a new review every morning. She notices different things at different times, and points them out to me. She’s very kind. She also sends me screenshots of messages from Ajay’s family. The common consensus is that rest assured, I’ve achieved my biggest responsibility, to pay him the right tribute,” Siddharth tells SCREEN in an exclusive interview.
The actor finds it “beautiful” that Alka keeps pointing out similarities between his demeanour and that of her late husband. But he believes that those parallels don’t stem from him, but from the extensive research undertaken by the show’s creators — Abhijeet Singh Parmar and Kushal Srivastava, an ex-Indian Air Force officer himself. In fact, Srivastava joined the IAF right after Kargil War, where Ajay’s jet was gunned down by the Pakistani army, leading his parachute to drift across the Line of Control, and get captured, tortured, and killed consequently.
Siddharth as Ajay Ahuja in Operation Safed Sagar.
“I keep reminding her what she saw wasn’t Siddharth. It’s what the creators saw with all their research and intangibles. That’s who their Ahuja sir is. I’ve just tried to be that,” says Siddharth. But he also revealed that she even finds similarities between Ajay and him even beyond the screen, when she spends some time with him personally, which he finds to be a “huge honour”.
“She says, ‘Siddharth, Ajay bilkul tumhari tarah tha. He was very jovial, fun-loving and badmash. But whenever he’d be at work, he’d become very focused, just like you,’” says the actor. She would also see his bonding with the actors who played the Golden Arrows reflect that of her husband with the actual Golden Arrows — Baldy (Mihir Ahuja), Dhali (Abhay Verma), Sangy (Taaruk Raina), and Goofy (Arnav Bhasin).
In the process of making Operation Safed Sagar, Siddharth and Alka have become so familiar with each other that she knows him “very well, and my tear ducts even better”. “The inside joke between us is that she keeps telling the third person, ‘Ye bolta hai main usey rulati rehti hu,’ and then we have a laugh about it. She sometimes even starts emotional messages like, ‘Main abhi kuchh likhne wali hu. Tum please rona mat,’” says Siddharth, smiling. “I’m very proud of what we did to achieve the memory of Ahuja sir on screen. It’s not just about people knowing what happened 27 years ago, but going beyond the uniform and the sacrifice, and just seeing this boy who fought and died for his country,” he adds. Siddharth is yet to meet or speak to Ajay and Alka’s son, Ankur Ahuja, who lives in the US and watched the show on the release dat itself. “That conversation is being planned for a long time. I’m going to go see him very soon,” assures the actor.
Siddharth on Ajay-Alka Ahuja’s enduring relationship
Given all the time he’s spent with Alka Ahuja, and recreating the memory of Ajay Ahuja in Operation Safed Sagar, Siddharth is enamoured by their enduring love story. “What I love the most about Alka ma’am and Ahuja sir is that she still spends most of her day with him. It’s in the present. It’s not a relic of the past. Because 27 years after he left his physical, mortal core, they’re still pretty much Alka and Ajay. And only the greatest of love stories can claim that,” shares Siddharth.
Story continues below this ad
He claims that one can sense Ajay Ahuja’s presence whenever one visits Alka’s home. She also refers to him in the present tense, which he finds “beautiful”. “Love isn’t about having your happy endings, and staying together till the end. That can’t be the only way to win in love. Despite him going away, she still lives with him. I find that very powerful,” adds the actor. Calling Alka Ahuja an “incredible woman”, he believes she gives more meaning to even the term ‘vir naari‘, which is a “great honour” in itself. He looks up to her as “another mother” and is grateful for that relationship.
Also Read — ‘Written in my destiny to make patriotism cool’: Siddharth on Rang De Basanti, Safed Sagar
It’s not only Siddharth, but countless of those who’ve watched Operation Safed Sagar, who can’t stop getting fascinated by Ajay and Alka’s love story. Even the little details matter. From him confessing that she won him over with a quick cup of coffee that led to their wedding, to him shaking a leg with her on “Yeh Kaali Kaali Aankhen” right before Kargil War. That Baazigar (1993) song was his favourite because it featured his favourite actor, Shah Rukh Khan. But that also demonstrates the kind of a war hero he was — “one who liked to dance, make people laugh, and make a fool out of himself,” as Siddharth puts it. In the end, he quotes another dialogue of his that sums up exactly who Ajay Ahuja was, when he tells Tony aka Commanding Officer MS Dhanoa (Jimmy Shergill), “Main toh Baazigar banne aaya tha. Aapne mujhe Crime Master Gogo bana dia!”
