Amrita Bagchi on playing Kargil hero's widow in Operation Safed Sagar and why grieving women are often misrepresented

The web series explores his legacy, Alka Ahuja’s strength, and the intricacies of grief contrasting typical depictions of mourning.

Amrita Bagchi took on the role of Alka Ahuja in Netflix’s recently released web series Operation Safed Sagar. When she signed the project, she had a certain image of the character in mind. Playing the widow Alka Ahuja of a Kargil hero Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja, she assumed the role would come with a lot of pain, silence and emotional weight. But that changed the moment she met the real Alka. Instead of the grief-stricken woman she had expected to meet, Amrita found someone warm, cheerful and remarkably resilient.

Amrita Bagchi on playing Kargil hero’s widow Alka Ahuja: ‘Whatever heaviness I felt completely evaporated’.

Meeting the real Alka Ahuja

Amrita met Alka while preparing for the role and spent time understanding her life, personality and memories of Ajay. Siddharth, who plays Ajay in the series, also met Alka as the two actors worked to bring the couple’s relationship and shared life to the screen. “I was thinking I have to approach it with so much gravitas and heaviness and I found none of that in her. He was a really fun person. And I think she wants to honour that memory by remaining a fun person,” she said in an interview with SheThePeople.

Why grief does not always look the way films show it

Amrita also felt that films often show grief in a very predictable way, especially when it comes to women. A woman dealing with loss is usually shown crying, breaking down or sitting in silence as emotional music plays in the background. But, as she points out, real grief is far more complicated.

She said, “The stereotype of grieving women that we've seen are ones who melt into puddles. That background score and immense tragedy. Women are really not like that. When we're telling the story of a martyr, we have to talk about the world that was most precious to him, which he gave up. For that to land, you need that world to be very endearing, very anchoring. And that means happiness.”

Remembering the man behind the uniform

Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja served with the Indian Air Force’s Golden Arrows Squadron during the Kargil War. In May 1999, he was on a mission to track enemy movement and gather information about the infiltration along the Line of Control.

During the operation, another pilot was forced to eject after his aircraft developed a problem. Ajay turned back to help him, but his own aircraft was hit by a surface-to-air missile. He ejected and landed in enemy territory. His body was later handed back to India, and he was posthumously honoured with the Vir Chakra for his courage. Ajay and Alka had a young son, Ankur, who was around six or seven when his father was killed. Alka was just 32 at the time.

About Operation Safed Sagar

Operation Safed Sagar, which premiered on August 7 on Netflix, tells the story of the Kargil War through the eyes of the Indian Air Force’s Golden Arrows Squadron. The six-part web series, Siddharth, Jimmy Shergill, Abhay Verma, Taaruk Raina, Dia Mirza, Amrita Bagchi, Prajakta Koli and Mihir Ahuja among others. The series is directed by Oni Sen and created by Kushal Srivastava and Abhijeet Singh Parmar and shows the missions, officers and their families and the sacrifices they have made which came with war.

Following the show’s success, Netflix also released The Last Salute, a documentary tracing the MiG-21’s 62-year association with the Indian Air Force. Directed by Operation Safed Sagar co-creator Kushal Srivastava, the documentary premiered on Netflix on August 26.