Operation Safed Sagar: Siddharth in tears

Jimmy Shergill and Siddharth are starring in a webseries titled Operation Safed Sagar, which willbe streaming on Netflix starting from 7 Aug 2026. Operation Safed Sagar is a tribute to the Indian Air Force's operations during the Kargil War.

During the promotions, Siddharth was moved to tears when late Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja's wife, Alka Ahuja, thanked the makers for bringing her husband's story to the screen. Speaking to her, Siddharth said "Yesterday, Abhijeet Parmar and I spoke for a long time. We spoke about you a lot. Thank you so much for giving us permission to tell this story. We would not have done it without you,"

Alka revealed, "I don't have any videos of Ajay. At least, I have an image of Ajay now."

Siddharth who was emotional said "My first reaction was hesitation. When you portray someone who is no longer here, especially a martyr, there is a huge responsibility. They are not here to defend themselves or question your interpretation,"

He continued "We often tend to whitewash our heroes. But heroes don't always look like heroes. They become heroes because of their actions. I didn't want to do injustice to somebody's memory."

"I only asked one thing: 'Did she allow it?' That mattered the most to me," he said, referring to Alka Ahuja's approval.

Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja was an Indian Air Force officer who was killed during the 1999 Kargil War. He was shot down while flying a mission to locate a fellow pilot whose aircraft had crashed. Ahuja was posthumously awarded the Vir Chakra for his courage and service, and is remembered as one of the key figures of Operation Safed Sagar.

---- Pramod Nandivada