‘Operation Safed Sagar’ series review: Siddharth, Jimmy lend heart to a racy wartime drama

There’s more to war than just gunfire and hand grenades. Strategic and diplomatic decisions made behind closed doors influence the fate of what happens on the battlefield. Operation Safed Sagar understands this as it shifts the perspective and spends time establishing the context of the Kargil war before getting into action. The Netflix series reimagines the turbulent time of the late 1990s as India and Pakistan held peace talks amid the looming danger of the nuclear bomb. A host of stock footage is juxtaposed to gather the grainy memory of the time. The familiarity starts to wade off gradually as the series establishes the Pakistani subjects. Yes, the background score underscores caution, the visuals darken, yet there is a willingness to engage with their perspective. They are not outrightly condemned here as absolute things of evil. The severity of their actions rises from parts of their own crumbling humanity.