4 min readNew DelhiAug 21, 2026 08:52 PM IST
Actor Manu Rishi Chadha, who plays former Pakistan army chief Pervez Musharraf in the Netflix series Operation Safed Sagar, recently shared that the role has earned him both love and hate. While this is not the first time the actor has portrayed a negative character, his performance in the series has received considerable attention.
Speaking to PTI, Chadha said: “People have told me, ‘If we didn’t love you, we would only hate you’ and that they are experiencing this strange kind of ‘love filled with hate’ for the character.”
He added: “I have been receiving long messages from people who were deeply hurt by what happened in 1999… That is why I felt that while it may be easier to forgive Pakistan, forgiving Musharraf would not be as easy. Even people from the armed forces messaged me and said they were deeply affected.”
Manu Rishi Chadha said that when he took on the role, he was worried that audiences might begin associating the character’s personality with him in real life.
“Sometimes it can work the other way, people may start thinking that if the character is such, then the actor must also be like that. Thankfully, I had done comedy before and had made people laugh and feel affection for me, so they understood that I had acted well and that I was not actually like the character. Otherwise, it would have become very difficult.”
Pervez Musharraf was one of the key Pakistani military leaders involved in the planning and execution of the 1999 Kargil conflict, which began with the infiltration of Pakistani troops and irregulars into positions on the Indian side of the Line of Control.
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For Manu Rishi, however, the challenge was not just to portray Musharraf the military leader, but to understand the man behind the persona. Speaking about how he prepared for the role, Manu Rishi told SCREEN: “My first instinct as an actor was to open YouTube and watch his videos. But I’d gone to Nawazuddin Siddiqui to narrate something, so I just asked him casually how he did Manto (2018). He said he didn’t have any visual reference of Manto. He just had a photo and text for reference. He also said he wanted to place his faith on Nandita (Sen, director). So, I also began discussing it with Abhijeet Parmar (co-creator) and Oni (Sen, director) sir, and I realised they know more about Musharraf than me. A long time ago, I’d watched a conclave of Musharraf in India. I observed that he always thought he’s saying the truth. We know that he’s lying. It was very important to locate that human in him. All humans have the ability to carry lies for over 20-25 years.”
He added: “I think it was very important to play him with stillness. I should always keep my volume correct. I’m not like that. I’m a Chadha from Delhi, boss! Punjab’s Punjabis are still subtle. Punjabis from Delhi are a bit overboard. I also realised while reading the script that I need to take a little pause before each dialogue. I’ve used all my pauses as weapons, actually. I didn’t watch the monitor during the scenes. When I thought I’d made a mistake, I’d say sorry, but the director would reassure me that I was doing it very well. So, I was nervous, and had doubts about my performance. But the day I’m not nervous, I make big f*ck-ups.”
