Shoma asks: What Did Netflix’s Operation Safed Sagar Get Right — and Wrong? | BS Dhanoa

Shoma asks: What Did Netflix’s Operation Safed Sagar Get Right — and Wrong? | BS Dhanoa

11 September 2026

| Ignition

The hills weren’t quite that close. The flying wasn’t quite that cinematic. But the war and its costs were real.

What happens when the plan disappears the moment the first shot is fired? How did Indian pilots fly low, fast and deep to pivot a war? And what does a fighter pilot remember that no screen adaptation can quite recreate?

Former Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, the man who commanded the MiG-21 squadron “The Golden Arrows”, during the Kargil War and the real-life figure behind Jimmy Shergill’s character in Operation Safed Sagar, takes us inside one of India’s most daring air missions.

From the tactics of the Indian Air Force during Kargil to the loss of Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, the return of Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman after nearly 60 hours in captivity and the evolution of India’s air strategy from Kargil to Balakot, he offers an exclusive insider’s view of the dangers, decisions and people who have changed the course of Indian military history.

With Shoma Chaudhury

At IGNITION

Presented by Shiv Nadar Foundation.

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