Operation Safed Sagar: Baldy used Ajay Ahuja's money to buy his coffin, Oni Sen reveals deleted scene

Director Oni Sen and Amrita Bagchi, who played Alka Ahuja, revealed that several of the most emotional scenes they shot did not make it to the final cut.

When Operation Safed Sagar premiered on Netflix India, it told the story of the 1999 Kargil War from beyond the battlefield. The series also followed the families who were left behind and showed how the war continued to affect their lives. But director Oni Sen and Amrita Bagchi, who played Alka Ahuja, revealed that several of the most emotional scenes they shot did not make it to the final cut.

Operation Safed Sagar: Oni Sen reveals heartbreaking scene where Baldy used Ajay's money for his coffin.

The coffin that never gave Alka closure

In the series, Golden Arrows Squadron Leader Ajay Ahuja (played by Siddharth) was captured, tortured and killed by the Pakistani army. When his body returned to India, it came in a coffin that was shorter than his height. But there was another heartbreaking part of Alka's story that the series did not fully show. Alka never saw Ajay's face after his death. She only saw the coffin, leaving her without the chance to see her husband one last time and get that final sense of closure.

In an interview with Indian Express, Amrita said, "She didn't see the body. She just saw the coffin. So, in her head, she's not allowed that physical closure to happen. That's why she says, 'I feel he'll walk in any time'. We didn't receive his body in a good condition. The coffin was smaller than his height. It was very inhuman. She chose to not see that. Whether at that time, it was her intentional choice or she was suggested not to, I don't know. I didn't have the heart to ask.”

When Ajay's own money was used for his coffin

One of the most heartbreaking deleted scenes revolved around the same coffin. Before leaving for Srinagar, Ajay forgot to withdraw some money from the bank and asked Alka to send it through a colleague. When the envelope, along with a letter from Alka, reached him, he was already preparing to leave for his mission. He simply tucked it into his overalls before taking off.

The envelope later came back with Ajay's coffin. Baldy (Mihir Ahuja) and Goofy (Arnav Bhasin) then went to arrange a new coffin for him. The team had also filmed a simple but powerful scene of a coffin maker making several coffins at once, quietly showing the scale of the loss during the war. The moment became even more painful when Baldy realised he did not have enough money to buy the coffin. The only money he had was the envelope that belonged to Ajay Ahuja.

"We'd actually shot this beautiful scene when this coffin maker is making hundreds of coffins because the army had lost so many of its men. These were the subtle ways we were trying to talk about the loss which we'd suffered at the moment. He has tears in his eyes. He takes out that money, which is Ahuja sir's money, to buy his coffin. Unfortunately, we couldn't put that into the show, but it's such a deep moment. It could've added another layer to it, but these are all real stories. They aren't fictitious," Oni revealed.

Alka gets behind the wheel

Beyond the battlefield, the series also explored the bond between three army wives, Alka, Kamalpreet Kaur (Dia Mirza), and Madhavi Reddy (Prajakta Koli). For Amrita, one particular scene about their friendship stayed with her. She recalled how emotional it was for everyone while they filmed it.

The report revealed that in the scene, Madhavi, who was pregnant, suddenly went into labour while their husbands were away fighting the war. Kamalpreet panicked because there was no one around to help and her car was not there. Alka then remembered that she had a car. She took out the keys, which still had a bow on them, and headed towards the car, which also had the ribbon from when it was gifted to her.

The car was especially important to Alka. Ajay had bought it for her before leaving for his final mission. He had also taught her to drive because he wanted her to be able to manage on her own. So, when Alka finally got behind the wheel and drove Madhavi and Kamalpreet to the hospital, the moment carried a lot more weight than just getting them there safely.

Amrita recalled that Oni had asked her to show a small, victorious smile while reversing the car. It was Alka's way of realising that Ajay had prepared her for this moment. She was nervous, but she knew she had to take charge. For Amrita, the scene felt cathartic because it showed Alka choosing to keep going despite everything she had lost.

Ajay still felt present in that moment. As Alka struggled with the car, she could hear his voice in her head, reminding her how to release the clutch. For Oni, that detail showed how much of Ajay stayed with her even after his death. He later said he wished the series could have kept more of these little memories and emotional moments.

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.