Sixteen years ago, legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar became the first ever person with no aviation background to be given a rank by the Indian Air Force. He was bestowed upon the rank of honorary Group Captain by the IAF back in 2010. He recently confessed that he felt even more “fortunate” and “grateful” to be associated with the IAF after watching Oni Sen’s period war drama Operation Safed Sagar on Netflix India.
Tendulkar took to his social media handles on Tuesday evening and shared a throwback picture with the real-life former Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa, played by Jimmy Shergill in Operation Safed Sagar. “Dear @IAF_MCC, just finished watching Operation Safed Sagar. It made me think about how different life is for the people who are out there, carrying the pressure and uncertainty, while the rest of us are able to sleep peacefully and carry on with our everyday lives,” the cricketer wrote in the caption.
He recalled his memorable meeting with Dhanoa nine years ago in 2017, during a special screening of his documentary, James Erskine’s Sachin: A Billion Dreams, for the armed forces at the IAF Auditorium in New Delhi. Dhanoa was the Chief of Staff back then. “Watching Operation Safed Sagar now, and seeing what he and so many others went through during Kargil, made me look back at that meeting with a deeper sense of appreciation,” added Tendulkar.
“The courage is extraordinary. So is the discipline and mental strength behind it,” wrote Tendulkar. Operation Safed Sagar documents the lesser known contribution of the IAF, particularly the Golden Arrows squad, in the 1999 Kargil War, where India emerged victorious against Pakistan. Dhanoa served as the Commanding Officer of the Golden Arrows at the time.
“I feel fortunate to be associated with the IAF and to have an understanding of the values that define it. Watching this story only made me more grateful. Thank you for everything you do for us. Jai Hind!,” concluded Tendulkar on social media. He became an honorary Group Captain in the IAF to mark his extraordinary achievements as a cricketer, his contributions to the nation, and his role as a brand ambassador for the youth.
Dhanoa recently opened up on the creative liberties undertaken in Operation Safed Sagar. “The bottomline is it’s not a documentary. It’s a human interest story, along with a historical. So, to show how certain things are done, they’ve made it simple so that they carry everyone along. This series isn’t only for the military personnel, that you explain everything in detail and they’d understand it,” Dhanoa told The Indian Express recently.
“So, it’s been dumbed down at some places. At some places, they’ve made it slightly different so that people can understand. The essence of the story hasn’t been changed. Maybe we don’t do things like that actually, but it’s been changed to make it more say, watchable, pleasurable, and most importantly, understandable by common people. That’s why the series has been such a huge hit because it’s been able to connect with the common people, not just soldiers, ex-soldiers, and soldier families,” added Dhanoa.
Co-produced by Matchbox Shots and Feel Good Films, Operation Safed Sagar has been co-written by Abhijeet Singh Parmar and Kushal Srivastava, also a former IAF officer. Directed by Oni Sen, it also stars Siddharth as Kargil War hero Ajay Ahuja, Amrita Bagchi as his wife Alka Ahuja, Dia Mirza as Dhanoa’s wife Kamalpreet Kaur, Abhay Verma, Mihir Ahuja, Taaruk Raina, and Arnav Bhasin as the Golden Arrows.
The show also stars Prajakta Koli, Adil Hussain, Barun Sobti, Sanjay Suri, Aanjjan Srivastav as former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manu Rishi Chadha as former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, and Vinay Pathak as former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif among others.
